The Personal Hardship Assistance Program helps people experiencing financial hardship in emergencies. The program includes Emergency Relief Payments and Re-establishment Assistance.
You may be eligible for an emergency payment if you have been affected by a house fire or a natural disaster.
Translated information
Find fact sheets in other languages, including:
- Arabic
- Chinese (Simplified and Traditional)
- Greek
- Hindi
- Italian
- Punjabi
- Vietnamese
on this page, under Translated resources.
Other support services
For information about support services for non-natural disaster emergencies, please visit Families and Children or Housing to view available support services.
Emergency Relief Payments
A one-off payment is provided to help meet immediate needs, including emergency food, shelter, clothing, medication and accommodation.
If you have been impacted by an emergency or natural disaster and have urgent relief needs, you can:
- call VicEmergency on 1800 226 226
- visit VicEmergency Relief webpage
- contact your local council.
Emergency relief payments are not available for:
- damage caused by construction or building works
- business losses
- motor vehicle repairs or towing
- compensation for the loss of income
- paying insurance excess
- loss resulting from power outages.
How we pay emergency relief payments
You can be paid by:
- direct debit transfer into your nominated bank account
- a prepaid debit card.
Using your prepaid card
A prepaid card can be used to:
- Buy items at stores that accept EFTPOS
- withdraw cash from an ATM - up to $1000 per day
The card will expire on the expiry date printed on the back of the card.
Expiring cards with leftover money
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing is contacting anyone who has a prepaid card that is due to expire in October 2024 with a balance of more than $20. You need to spend or withdraw the money before the expiry date.
You may receive an email, text message or letter from the Department. This is legitimate and is not a scam.
If you have any concerns, please contact us using the details provided in the email, text message or letter.
You can find details about prepaid cards by downloading Target market determination prepaid card (word)
Re-establishment Assistance
You can get financial help to return home if:
- You cannot live in your home because it is damaged or destroyed, or
- you cannot access your home for more than 7 days because of flooding.
Re-establishment Assistance is only available for your principal place of residence.
Re-establishment Assistance can help to pay for:
- clean-up
- temporary accommodation
- repairs
- rebuilding your home
- replacing some damaged contents.
This help is means tested. You can only get it if you:
- do not have building (home) insurance or contents insurance AND
- are experiencing financial hardship.
Other help
The Victorian or Australian governments may offer other help in some emergencies. You can find out what is available at relief or recovery centres (if activated) or on the Victorian Government’s Emergency website.
More information
If you are in immediate danger, call triple zero (000).
For more details on the Personal Hardship Assistance Program, read:
- PHAP general information (Word)
- How to get help in natural disaster - Easy English - Accessible (PDF)
Translated resources
- Arabic - PHAP general information (Word)
- Chinese Simplified - PHAP general information (Word)
- Chinese Traditional - PHAP general information (Word)
- Greek - PHAP general information (Word)
- Hindi - PHAP general information (Word)
- Italian - PHAP general information (Word)
- Punjabi - PHAP general information (Word)
- Vietnamese - PHAP general information (Word)