Launceston father homeless after end of National Rental Affordability Scheme

Then out of the blue in April, he was given an eviction notice with 42 days to find somewhere else to live.

"I struggled to get things together and move stuff out, and clean up. It's still a shock today," Mr Mansfield said.

The rent had been low at $250-a-week, and he believed this was because it was community housing, available to him due to being on the Carer Payment for his son. Instead, it was actually a private tenancy under the National Rental Affordability Scheme, with subsidised rent, managed by community housing.

The scheme lasts for 10 years, and the time was up - not just for Mr Mansfield's rental, but three of his neighbours too. They were all to be evicted.

"We asked if the owners would keep us as tenants. But they just wanted us out," he said.

Mr Mansfield was made homeless last week, living in his car and spending a few nights at friends or relatives where he can. His son is living with his grandmother.

And then there was a further insult: the St Leonards property reappeared for rent for $360-a-week soon after.

"That would have been about $100 extra a week. I could've covered the extra rent, but no, we're out," Mr Mansfield said.

"It's made me so angry. If I had have been given the option to stay there and cover that extra rent, I would have taken it.

"All we had was a pre-eviction inspection, five days before I was due to leave. You got the feeling that no one wanted to know, no one cared, not a bit."

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He is now on the public housing waiting list, which currently has an average wait of 72 weeks. The experience has left him uncertain of the private rental market.

"I don't want to end up in a situation like now. If we get a six-month lease, the landlord could decide they want to sell it or do something else, then we'd be in the same boat as now," Mr Mansfield said.

"I'm just one of many. I know of people that don't even have a car to sleep in.

"The last couple of nights have been pretty chilly."

Six Kingston (a town on Hobart's outskirts) residents - all at least in their 70s - attended Parliament House on Wednesday as part of a last ditch attempt to get the Tasmanian government to assure them they would not be evicted into homelessness.

Their rental properties were also being removed from NRAS in the coming month, and even though it was a federal government program, they had been demanding action from the state government. Despite months of letters and contact, little response had been given.

The looming end of NRAS had been known for years.

Housing Minister Guy Barnett met a group on Monday night to "better understand their circumstances".

The state has its own scheme - the Private Rental Incentives Program - and there's an ability for NRAS properties to move onto this, but the eligibility appears to be much tighter. Communities Tasmania has been directed to look into what support can be offered for those facing eviction.

Jean Kingston - who has a vacate notice for July 7, and no ability to afford the average rent in Kingston - said they still had no assurances about their future.

"We really want to know: are we going to be one of those people on the side of the Southern Outlet in a tent?" she said.

"We're not sleeping, we've all had accelerated health issues. So it is very stressful.

"Because I've got a little bit of superannuation, I'm not eligible for the Private Rental Incentives Program but they felt because I had so little super I might be able to come on the scheme, but I really don't know."

Labor extensively questioned the government on why solutions had not been found sooner for those who would, eventually, face eviction due to NRAS finishing.

More than 420 properties have already exited the scheme in Tasmania, and 1085 remain. Of those, 770 are long-term University of Tasmania accommodation which has a greater level of safety net.

A further 196 are owned by community housing providers and will remain long-term.

But residents in the remaining 119 privately-owned units are effectively on their own when NRAS finishes, the majority within four years. That was the situation facing Mr Mansfield.

Labor leader Rebecca White said the government should have been lobbying their federal counterparts to extend the scheme, or provide extra supports.

"Your government has known this was a possibility since the day you were elected in 2014. It is distressing to see the lack of action by your government to help," she said.

Mr Barnett wrote to incoming federal Housing Minister Julie Collins on Tuesday, and said work was being done to see what support was available for those facing eviction.

"The NRAS scheme program has different eligibility from housing programs in Tasmania but, where possible, we will provide that assistance to those tenants," he said.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff met with the Kingston residents on Wednesday.