❓ Hon Sue Ellery questions the Minister for Housing regarding changes to rent assessment for Housing Authority tenants, specifically concerning which allowances are temporarily excluded as assessable income and how tenants were informed of these changes. The Minister provides a detailed list of excluded payments and confirms tenants were notified via letter and website updates.
AnsweredQoN 354Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
HOUSING AUTHORITY — TENANTS — RENT
ASSESSMENT
354. Hon SUE ELLERY to the
Minister for Housing:
(1) Which
allowances will temporarily not be treated as assessable income by the
Department of Housing for the purpose of calculating rent for department
tenants?
(2) Has the department advised any tenants of the temporary
reprieve or the review; and, if not, why not?
(3) If the
department has advised any tenants of the temporary reprieve or the review, how
was that advice communicated?
I think the minister answered part (2) in his answer to the
first question.
ASSESSMENT
354. Hon SUE ELLERY to the
Minister for Housing:
(1) Which
allowances will temporarily not be treated as assessable income by the
Department of Housing for the purpose of calculating rent for department
tenants?
(2) Has the department advised any tenants of the temporary
reprieve or the review; and, if not, why not?
(3) If the
department has advised any tenants of the temporary reprieve or the review, how
was that advice communicated?
I think the minister answered part (2) in his answer to the
first question.
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The
Housing Authority advises —
(1) The Housing
Authority has excluded a number of income supports, Department of Veterans'
Affairs payments, and training, education and employment payments, for the
purpose of calculating public housing rent, including the regular additional
assistance that is a component of Abstudy; attendant allowance; bereavement
payment; English war disability pension; farm family restart payment; farm
household support; flexible support payment; incentive allowance for disability
support pension recipients; language, literacy and numeracy supplement; local
government elected allowance, the component of which is not used for related
expenses but the remainder is still assessable as per the policy before 28 March
2016; mobility allowance; overseas add-on payment for a child, which is a component
of various payments such as the age pension, disability support pension et cetera;
relocation scholarship payment; remote jobs and communities program supplement;
training and learning bonus; textbook and resource allocation; and voluntary
income management incentive payment.
In relation to DVA payments, the
original, existing policy for the purpose of rent calculation will be
maintained without change. Those payments that have always been assessable,
such as the war widow pension and income support supplement, will remain
assessable. Payments such as the war disability pension, including the general
rate, extreme disablement adjustment, intermediate rate and special rate—formerly
known as TPI, or totally and permanently incapacitated—are not assessable,
and recipients are deemed to be receiving the Centrelink statutory benefit to
which they would otherwise be entitled.
These exclusions were entered into
the Housing Authority's system as soon as the review commenced and
therefore no tenants have been charged rent based on these excluded payments.
(2)–(3)
Yes. The Housing Authority wrote to all tenants who would experience a change
to their rent charge based on the decision to exclude some payments.
Information is also available on the Housing Authority website, including a fact
sheet and list of newly assessable incomes. In addition to the answers to this
question and question without notice 339 asked yesterday by Hon Samantha Rowe , I table a list of
current assessable government payments.
[See paper 4017.]
Housing Authority advises —
(1) The Housing
Authority has excluded a number of income supports, Department of Veterans'
Affairs payments, and training, education and employment payments, for the
purpose of calculating public housing rent, including the regular additional
assistance that is a component of Abstudy; attendant allowance; bereavement
payment; English war disability pension; farm family restart payment; farm
household support; flexible support payment; incentive allowance for disability
support pension recipients; language, literacy and numeracy supplement; local
government elected allowance, the component of which is not used for related
expenses but the remainder is still assessable as per the policy before 28 March
2016; mobility allowance; overseas add-on payment for a child, which is a component
of various payments such as the age pension, disability support pension et cetera;
relocation scholarship payment; remote jobs and communities program supplement;
training and learning bonus; textbook and resource allocation; and voluntary
income management incentive payment.
In relation to DVA payments, the
original, existing policy for the purpose of rent calculation will be
maintained without change. Those payments that have always been assessable,
such as the war widow pension and income support supplement, will remain
assessable. Payments such as the war disability pension, including the general
rate, extreme disablement adjustment, intermediate rate and special rate—formerly
known as TPI, or totally and permanently incapacitated—are not assessable,
and recipients are deemed to be receiving the Centrelink statutory benefit to
which they would otherwise be entitled.
These exclusions were entered into
the Housing Authority's system as soon as the review commenced and
therefore no tenants have been charged rent based on these excluded payments.
(2)–(3)
Yes. The Housing Authority wrote to all tenants who would experience a change
to their rent charge based on the decision to exclude some payments.
Information is also available on the Housing Authority website, including a fact
sheet and list of newly assessable incomes. In addition to the answers to this
question and question without notice 339 asked yesterday by Hon Samantha Rowe , I table a list of
current assessable government payments.
[See paper 4017.]
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.