Rent Assistance · guide
Rent Assistance for single people and sharers
Living alone or sharing a house changes the maximum, not the threshold. What counts as sharing, and how much each pays.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
A single person without children who receives a pension or allowance gets Rent Assistance once rent passes $157.80 a fortnight, at 75 cents for each dollar above it. Since 20 September 2026, the maximum is $223.80 a fortnight for someone living alone or with a partner's absence, reached at a rent of $456.20, and $149.20 for a sharer, reached at $356.74. The threshold is the same for both, so a sharer paying a modest rent receives exactly what a person living alone would; the difference only appears higher up, where the sharer's lower cap takes over. A single JobSeeker recipient paying $420 a fortnight receives $196.65 on top of the basic rate, and a student on Youth Allowance sharing a house at $300 receives $106.65. Rent Assistance always follows the main payment, so it is reduced when that payment is.
Rent Assistance for a single person
Rent Assistance per fortnight
$166.65
| Rent threshold | $157.80 |
| Maximum | $223.80 |
| Rent that reaches the maximum | $456.20 |
Single rate and sharer rate, side by side
| Rent per fortnight | Living alone | Sharing |
|---|---|---|
| $180 | $16.65 | $16.65 |
| $250 | $69.15 | $69.15 |
| $320 | $121.65 | $121.65 |
| $360 | $151.65 | $149.20 |
| $400 | $181.65 | $149.20 |
| $460 | $223.80 | $149.20 |
| $550 | $223.80 | $149.20 |
Up to a rent of $356.74 a fortnight the two columns are identical. Above it, the sharer's amount stops at $149.20, while the single amount keeps rising until $456.20. The sharer rate exists because people who share a kitchen, bathroom or living space are assumed to share the costs that go with them.
Who is a sharer
Broadly, you are a sharer when you share a major part of your accommodation, such as the kitchen, bathroom or living areas, with another adult who is not your partner. People in a share house or flat, people renting a room in someone else's home, and adults sharing with siblings or friends are typically sharers. Some arrangements are treated differently even when rooms are shared, board and lodging in particular, and the Social Security Act sets out the exceptions in detail. Services Australia asks about your living arrangements and decides; the rate you were given appears on your payment details.
What the rent figure should include
Enter the rent you are personally liable for. In a share house where the lease is in everyone's name, that is your share, not the whole rent. If your partner pays the rent, it counts as paid by you. Bond, utilities paid separately and one-off fees are not rent. Board and lodging can count in full when meals are included, which is one reason board and lodging often reaches the single maximum.
How the main payment carries it
For an allowance such as JobSeeker, Rent Assistance is added to the maximum rate before the income test. A single JobSeeker recipient who earns part-time wages loses 50 and then 60 cents per dollar of the whole rate, including the Rent Assistance part, and the payment stops at a higher income than it would without rent. For a pensioner it works the same way under both the income and the assets test. So the Rent Assistance you see in the table is the most you can receive; the household calculator shows what survives the tests on your income.
Two single renters compared
Consider two people on JobSeeker, both paying $380 a fortnight. Ben rents a studio on his own; Chloe rents a room in a four-bedroom share house. Their rent is the same, so they start from the same place: $222 above the threshold, three quarters of which is $166.65. Ben receives all of it. Chloe's cap as a sharer is $149.20, so she receives $149.20. If Chloe's rent were $330, she and a person living alone at the same rent would receive exactly the same amount, because both would be under the sharer cap.
The comparison also shows why the sharer rate rarely changes a household's decision to share: the rent saved by sharing is usually much larger than the Rent Assistance given up, often by several times over the year.
Indexation
The threshold and maximums move with prices on 20 March and 20 September. On top of indexation, the maximums were raised by 15% in September 2023 and by another 10% in September 2024 (Social Security Guide 5.1.7.10); the thresholds did not get those extra increases. The next change is due on 20 March 2027.