In December 2021 the Northern Territory Government provided $3M in funding to Venture Housing to design and administer a private rental subsidy scheme.
The objectives of the scheme are to reduce rental stress for Key Worker households in the NT, support local businesses to retain and build their workforce capability and boost the local economy. After a successful implementation, applications for the Rent Choice private rental subsidy scheme were paused in September due to all funds having been committed at that time.
Venture Housing’s 2021-22 Annual Report highlighted the achievements of the scheme in 2022 and Venture acknowledges that this level of impact could not have occurred without the collaboration, support and engagement of REINT, NT Real Estate Agencies and their tenancy teams who helped deliver these valuable outcomes for keyworker households and their employers.
Due to the nature of the scheme’s current eligibility review assessment requirements, funds have gradually returned to the pool as participants who are no longer eligible, exit the scheme.
On 1st March 2023, Venture Housing opened applications to commit all remaining Rent Choice funds with a re-focused campaign titled Rent Choice – Regional.
Throughout the administration and delivery of Rent Choice, Venture has continued to listen to feedback from our real estate partners, applicants, key worker households, local businesses and peak bodies.
To deliver increased impact in regional areas, Rent Choice – Regional has three key differences to Rent Choice as follows;
- A broader definition of a Key Worker, increasing accessibility for employees across a range of key service industries
- The scheme will only be available to eligible key workers in the following three regional locations; Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs
- Subsidies will be granted for a maximum of six months capped at $6,000 with no eligibility review requirement.
With the continued support of Real Estate partners in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, Venture are keen to deliver further valuable impact to key worker households and local businesses in these areas.
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