Renting in the time of COVID-19: Understanding the impacts

ABSTRACT

We have not yet seen the full effect of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic crisis, but this early analysis of the COVID19 module of the Australian Rental Housing Conditions Dataset (ARHCD) suggests that the rental sector will be where many of the upcoming challenges for Australia overlap. • The COVID-19 module captures a 'snapshot' of circumstances for Australian renters. The initial findings, presented here, suggest a policy-important cohort of tenants in Australia are lined up on the brink of a financial precipice. Many renters are currently buffered from the full economic effects of the pandemic by their savings, their superannuation, and rent deferment, as well as temporary government supports in the form of eviction moratoriums, JobKeeper and JobSeeker. • The impacts of COVID-19 across the rental sector are, in many respects, still emerging, and this presents a real challenge for policymakers in developing targeted and effective assistance. While policy responses may, in the short term, focus on protective mechanisms, such as eviction moratoriums, the systemic nature of the challenges faced by renters suggests that long-term recovery will be most effectively realised through system-wide policy shifts. • Challenges for effective policy response include the need to provide targeted assistance quickly, to provide a framework of certainty that enables all stakeholders in the rental sector to plan for the future (e.g. tenants, landlords, housing providers, social services), and to anticipate what issues may evolve in an extended pandemic. • Without control of COVID-19 and the associated health risks, there can be no recovery for the Australian economy. Housing is at the frontline of interventions-and, as such, is a potential weakness in recovery. © Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited 2020