Submission Adequacy of Newstart and Related Payments

October 2019

Launch Housing has submitted comments to the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs about the adequacy of Newstart and related payments for people who are either at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

In particular, we have addressed the following matters from the Terms of Reference:

• the adequacy of income support payments in Australia and whether they allow people to maintain an acceptable standard of living in line with community expectations;
• the impact of the current approach to setting income support payments; and
• the relative merits of alternative investments in health, education, housing and other programs to improve outcomes.

Our submission draws heavily on Launch Housing’s inaugural Australian Homelessness Monitor, which provides insight into the influence of socio-economic and housing market trends on the changing levels of homelessness.

This submission also identifies the investment required to scale up specific programs that demonstrably improve education, employment and housing outcomes.

These programs are already provided by Launch Housing, many without the assistance of government funding.