Rents to rise for Territory housing tenants
14 Aug 2018
Poetry at the picnic at Batchelor
There is quite a bit happening again this month, especially with the release of the Northern Territory Government’s Public Housing Calculation Change. This will affect all seniors who are tenants of Territory Housing and could have adverse effects on their standard of living. For current tenants, the change will be incremental over five years until all existing tenants will eventually pay 23% of their assessable household income as rent. The increments will begin from the 1st October 2018. New public housing tenants will pay 25% of their assessable income. COTA NT believes that this will cause hardship as the current Age Pension has not seen an increase. For further information about this change, visit the Department of Housing and Community Development website at dhcd.nt.gov.au.
Some good news – if you earn under $60,000 – the Australian Tax Office can assist you with your tax return. It is called the Tax Help program; visit https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/lodging-your-tax-return/tax-help-program/. Volunteers from the tax department are available until the end of October at the following places; Sommerville Community Centre, Wagaman, 8920 4100, Fong Lim Electorate Office, Stuart park, 8999 6501 or HK Training and Consultancy, Casuarina, 8927 2499. Please call first to make an appointment.
One of the first rural events for Seniors Month – the Coomalie COTA Branch Picnic Day at Batchelor has been held. The COTA NT bus took seniors along and by all accounts it was a great success with over 60 seniors participating in activities such as bush skittles, bowls, poetry and a museum tour.
As mentioned previously – COTA NT will be holding stalls at various shopping centres around the Territory with our seniors’ survey and will also be e-mailing it out. So, a request and reminder to please take the time to complete this survey, if you see us at the shopping centres.
Tags: Seniors Voice
