Your area's welfare bill.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance is an extra payment that helps eligible people with rent or accommodation costs. It is paid alongside a qualifying payment, such as JobSeeker, an eligible pension or Family Tax Benefit Part A. Services Australia assesses eligibility when you claim a qualifying payment or update your accommodation details.

You must pay rent above a minimum threshold. Assistance generally increases by 75 cents for each extra dollar of eligible rent, up to a maximum. Thresholds and maximum amounts depend on your circumstances, including whether you have children or share accommodation. Check eligibility and current rates at Services Australia.

Why we don't add it again: government expenditure figures already include Rent Assistance within the primary payments through which it is paid. The separate Rent Assistance estimate therefore overlaps those payment totals. Adding it would count some of the same money twice. See DSS budget statements, page 35, footnote (a).

Illustrative example: if a programme's reported spending is $100 million, including $10 million of Rent Assistance, adding that $10 million again would incorrectly produce $110 million. The programme total remains $100 million.

We still show Rent Assistance recipients and estimated spending so you can see the support provided. Its separate estimate covers payments across programmes, including some outside this site's selection, such as Austudy and ABSTUDY. It is not an exact breakdown of the rows above. Our subtotal covers selected programmes, rather than all Australian welfare spending.

Figures are frozen to data release 2024-25-v1. A postcode uses ABS Postal Area approximations and can span several areas. PO Box-only postcodes may not be represented; search by area name instead.