Goal: Providing support for low–to–moderate income households in the private market

The department assists low–to–moderate income households to access and sustain private rental accommodation and home ownership. It offers a range of loans and grants, including Bond Loans and Mortgage Relief, direct to the public and provides a range of products and services, including RentConnect, to broaden assistance options to low–income households in the private market.

Community organisations also receive funding from the department to provide:

• information, advocacy and advice to tenants
• information and referrals for home maintenance, repairs, modifications and home security for people with a disability and for people 60 years and over
• home modifications for frail–aged people and people with a moderate or severe disability to prevent their premature entry into a hostel, nursing home or similar facility.

Percentage of private housing assistance clients satisfied with the overall level of service

Overall client satisfaction with the Home Assist Secure service increased to 95% from 85% in 2007–08.

Client satisfaction with the Home Purchase Assistance program reached 96%, which was an increase from the previous result of 92% in 2006–07.

A client satisfaction survey was not conducted for clients of the Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service (Queensland) between 1 July 2008 and 31 March 2009. Similarly, there was no client satisfaction survey conducted for the Bond Loan program.

The following table provides a breakdown of households assisted over the past three years:

Assisting households to access the private rental market or home ownership

Providing financial assistance to help eligible households access home ownership or private rental accommodation

The department provides loans and grants to assist households to access or maintain accommodation in the private market. From 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2009, the department provided:

• 10,738 interest-free Bond Loans, at a cost of $10.45 million, to people who could not afford to pay a full bond to move into private rental accommodation
• 872 rental grants, at a cost of $0.35 million, as a once-only payment of two weeks rent to help meet some of the costs associated with moving into private rental accommodation. This product is offered to people exiting crisis accommodation, correctional centres, community-based rent schemes and mental health facilities, as well as people subjected to domestic violence
• 21 housing loans, comprising 18 loans, at a cost of $3.01 million, for new home owners who had difficulty obtaining finance from a bank, building society, or other financial institution to purchase a home, and three Home Adapt loans, at a cost of $0.02 million, to help home owners or household members with a disability to make home modifications which increase safety and independence.

At 31 March 2009, the department was managing a Bond Loan portfolio consisting of 25,468 accounts and a Home Loan portfolio comprising 2,099 accounts. This includes a portfolio of 1,237 Rental Purchase Plan accounts. From 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2009, 243 housing loan accounts were paid out as a result of sales, refinance or natural payouts of accounts. The department renegotiated with 6 rental purchase plan clients to finance and purchase additional shares in their property at a cost of $0.30 million.

Delivering products to assist clients to access the private market, including those transitioning out of social housing

The department provided 51 social rental housing tenants with financial assistance through the Sales to Tenants program, enabling them to purchase the departmental property they were renting.

Between 1 July 2008 and 31 March 2009, the department invested $2.59 million in the Pathways Shared Equity Loan product to provide 13 additional households with the opportunity to purchase a share of their social rental property. Under this loan, the prospective home buyer(s) can apply for a loan to purchase a share of their rental home and enter into a co-ownership agreement with the department, who retains the remaining share.

The department continued to support the identification and promotion of homes with access features for sale or rent in Brisbane. Real estate agents involved with the Home Access Information Trial were encouraged to advertise homes with access features, enabling older people and people with disabilities to be better informed about properties they wished to inspect.

Assisting households to maintain private rental accommodation or home ownership

Providing financial assistance to help households maintain home ownership

From 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2009, the department provided Mortgage Relief loans to 21 households who suffered an unexpected change in their circumstances, and as a result, were having difficulty in maintaining their regular mortgage repayments. Mortgage Relief loans are repayable over a 10-year term with no repayments required in the first 12 months.

Delivering products to assist clients to sustain private market tenure

RentConnect

RentConnect is a trial product that aims to reduce the demand for social housing by assisting eligible clients to secure a tenancy in the private rental market. This assistance is offered to clients with the ability to sustain a private market tenancy, who face non-financial barriers (such as lack of knowledge or limited rental history, poor presentation, any of which can create a lack of competitiveness with other applicants), and financial barriers.

RentConnect has three components:

• RentConnect Advisory Service
• RentConnect Loan
• RentConnect Tenancy Guarantee.

Additionally, ConnectPoint is a service provided to complement the RentConnect Advisory Service. It offers a new and innovative way for the department to increase access to information for clients seeking to rent in the private market. ConnectPoint provides self-service computer workstations and printers in the foyer of area offices. These workstations provide access to:

• websites that clients can search for a rental home in the private market
• information to assist clients to learn how to make an application and start a tenancy in the private rental market
• Government websites with information on renting in the private market and living as a tenant.

On 1 July 2008, RentConnect commenced with the release of nine fact sheets on the department's website providing hints on accessing the private rental market. Following this, the RentConnect Advisory Service commenced operations in two pilot locations (Caboolture and Central Queensland) in September 2008.

As at 31 March 2009:

• 214 clients had been assisted through RentConnect interviews in the two pilot locations
• 70 of the 214 clients assisted were known to have secured private rental tenancies
• there had been almost 14,000 downloads of the private rental facts sheets from the department's website.

Delivering maintenance and modification services to assist people to remain in their own homes

To assist aged people and people with a disability to remain in their homes, from 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2009 the department funded community organisations to:

• assist 49,789 households through Home Assist Secure services with free information and referrals relating to home maintenance, repairs, modifications and home security, at a cost of $14.39 million
• undertake 750 modifications to homes under the Home and Community Care Home Modification Service to prevent premature entry into a hostel, nursing home or similar facility, at a cost of $5.8 million. This service provides information, assessment, project management and/or financial assistance with home modifications.

Funding advice and advocacy services to assist households in the residential rental market with information regarding their rights and responsibilities

The department granted $3.96 million to non-profit community organisations and local councils to operate Tenant Advice and Advocacy Services. These services provide tenants with access to information, advocacy and advice regarding their rights and responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act 1994 and the Residential Services (Accommodation) Act 2002. The program also provides, where appropriate, information and referral to people in housing need to access safe, secure and affordable housing. These providers assisted 60,833 households from 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2009.

In addition to annual funding, a further $0.81 million was allocated to 22 of the 24 Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service (Queensland) registered providers to assist clients affected by closures of residential services facilities.