Rent Assistance sharer rules
A single person who shares private accommodation may be assessed as a sharer, and the sharer maximum is lower than the ordinary single maximum. From 20 September 2026, the sharer maximum is $149.20 a fortnight, compared with $223.80 for a single person who is not a sharer. The threshold is the same for both: fortnightly rent must be more than $157.80. What changes is the rent at which the maximum is reached — $356.74 a fortnight for a sharer, against $456.20 for a single person who is not sharing.
Who counts as a single sharer
Services Australia applies the single sharer rate if you are a single customer, you have no dependent children, and you live in shared private accommodation, and you receive one of the following payments: ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Age Pension, Austudy, Farm Household Allowance, JobSeeker Payment, Special Benefit, or Youth Allowance. All of those conditions must line up. Simply having a housemate does not by itself settle the question: the accommodation arrangement, the payment, and the household facts together decide whether the sharer rate applies.
Why the sharer rate is lower
The reasoning is that a person sharing a home usually shares the costs of that home, so the same rent buys a share of a dwelling rather than a whole dwelling. The lower maximum reflects that shared position. It can still be a substantial amount: a sharer paying $300.00 a fortnight in rent receives $106.65 a fortnight, and a sharer paying $356.74 or more receives the full $149.20. The sharer calculation uses the same 75-cent formula as every other situation, on the how it is calculated page, with the sharer maximum as the cap.
Sharing, board and lodging, and the two-thirds rule
Board and lodging is treated differently from ordinary rent. If you pay board and lodging, Services Australia works out Rent Assistance on the lodging part only. If you cannot say what you pay for lodging, it uses two-thirds of the total board and lodging amount as rent. In that situation, if you are sharing accommodation, you will not receive the single sharer rate, but you can receive a different rate worked out from your circumstances. That is a good reason to keep a written breakdown of board and lodging costs, where you can, and to give Services Australia the full arrangement rather than a single lump sum.
When sharing starts or stops
Moving into shared accommodation, moving out of it, or a housemate moving in or out can change your rate, sometimes by a large amount. A single person moving from a flat alone into a share house in Melbourne, for example, could move from a maximum of $223.80 to a maximum of $149.20, even if the rent paid stays similar. The reverse move can raise the maximum. Either change must be reported, as explained on the reporting changes page, because Services Australia cannot apply the right rate to a household it does not know about.