Emergency re-establishment assistance is designed to assist people and families to re-establish a principal place of residence. A principal place of residence is the primary home that you live in.
Payment amount
For re-establishment assistance, the amount of money you get depends on things like:
- the number of people who live in your home
- how much of your house is damaged
- how much money you earn.
You can use re-establishment assistance for:
- cleaning up your home
- staying somewhere else
- repairs to your home
- rebuilding your home
- replacing damaged contents.
Who can get the payment
You may be eligible for re-establishment assistance if you:
- don’t have much money to repair your home after a major emergency, and
- don’t have building or contents insurance, and
- can’t live in your home because it was damaged or destroyed, or can’t get back to your home for more than 7 days because of the major emergency, and
- haven’t already had your costs covered by compensation, donations, or other charity help.
How to apply for a payment
A support officer from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing can help you apply.
- You can call the Emergency Recovery Hotline on 1800 560 760
or
- visit an Emergency Recovery Hub. You can check if there is a Hub open near you by visiting the VicEmergency website
- If you can, have some ID ready, like:
- Driver licence
- Medicare card
- Letter or utility bill showing your address.
- For re-establishment assistance, you will also need to show proof of:
- income (for example, a payslip or Centrelink payment summary)
- insurance status (for example, a document from your insurance company)
- impact on your home (for example, photos of damages or quotes for repairs).
Updated