Report on Government Services 2023

Social housing is subsidised rental housing provided by not-for-profit, non-government or government organisations to assist people who are unable to access suitable accommodation in the private rental market. Four forms of social housing are reported in this section.

Forms of social housing

• Public housing: dwellings owned (or leased) and managed by State and Territory housing authorities. Public housing is generally accessed by people on low incomes and/or those in selected equity groups, and aims to provide a choice of housing location, physical type and management arrangements.
• State owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH): dwellings owned and managed by State and Territory housing authorities that are allocated only to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants, including dwellings managed by government Indigenous housing agencies.
• Community housing: rental housing provided to low-to-moderate income households and/or those in selected equity groups, managed by community-based organisations that lease properties from government or have received a capital or recurrent subsidy from government. Community housing organisations typically receive some form of government assistance, such as direct funding for the provision of land and property, but a number of community housing organisations are entirely self-funded. The key terms section on the Explanatory materials tab provides further information on different models of community housing.
• Indigenous community housing (ICH): dwellings owned or leased and managed by ICH organisations and community councils. ICH models vary across jurisdictions and can also include dwellings funded, managed or registered by government. ICH organisations include community organisations such as resource agencies and land councils.

Crisis and transitional housing is another form of social housing but cannot be separately identified in this Report. Some crisis and transitional housing may be indirectly reported as forms of social housing in this Report.

From 1 July 2018, social housing is funded and delivered under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) and related Partnership Agreements between the Australian Government and State and Territory governments. These services were previously funded under the National Affordable Housing Agreement and related Agreements. This section does not report on housing programs provided outside the NHHA (for example, those provided by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs or rental or home purchase assistance — the latter is discussed in sector overview G).

State and Territory governments have primary responsibility for delivering social housing services either directly through public housing and SOMIH or through funding community housing providers. ICH is generally managed by ICH organisations (although some ICH dwellings are managed by State and Territory housing authorities). State and Territory governments assumed responsibility for administering ICH in urban and regional areas, however arrangements varied across jurisdictions.

State and Territory government net recurrent expenditure on social housing was $4.6 billion in 2021‑22, unchanged in real terms from 2020‑21. In 2021‑22, this expenditure included $3.2 billion for public housing and $200.6 million for SOMIH (table 18.1).

Australian Government funding for services under the NHHA and related agreements was $1.7 billion in 2021‑22 (see table GA.1 in the Housing and Homelessness Sector Overview) and is included in total State and Territory government net recurrent expenditure for housing and homelessness services. State and Territory government capital (non‑recurrent) expenditure for social housing was $2.7 billion in 2021‑22 (table 18A.1).

Nationally at 30 June 2022, there were 417 966 households and 439 874 social housing dwellings (tenancy rental units for community housing and permanent dwellings for ICH) (figure 18.1).

While the number of public housing households has decreased over the past decade (321 213 in 2013 to 286 014 in 2022), there has been an increase in the number of households in community housing, from 65 632 to 102 145 (table 18A.4). This in part reflects transfer of some public housing stock (management and/or title) to the community housing sector (table 18A.2), in line with government policy to expand the role of community housing in the provision of affordable housing. Community housing organisations are working in partnership with the Australian, State and Territory governments, and the private sector, to increase the supply of affordable housing — many new social housing dwellings are or will be owned and/or managed by community housing organisations.

Some forms of community housing allow tenants to participate in the management of their housing. Notwithstanding their common objectives, community housing programs vary within and across jurisdictions in their administration and the types of accommodation they provide. See Key Terms in the Explanatory material tab for details on community housing models.

While State and Territory governments have similar broad objectives for providing social housing, the emphasis each jurisdiction places on an individual objective differs depending on historical precedents and processes for interaction with community sector providers. Private housing markets also vary across jurisdictions. Accordingly, policy responses and associated forms of assistance vary across jurisdictions. When analysing performance information, it is important to consider the different levels and types of assistance provided in each jurisdiction, their different urban, regional and remote area concentrations (tables 18A.5–7), differences in eligibility criteria for housing assistance types and factors affecting waiting lists. Some information on the context for public housing, SOMIH and community housing is provided in tables 18.2–4.

Eligibility criteria for access to social housing

Eligibility criteria for social housing vary across social housing types and jurisdictions.

• Public housing — in most cases, jurisdictions require that applicants are Australian citizens or permanent residents and do not own or partially own residential property. All jurisdictions, except Victoria, require eligible applicants to reside in the respective State or Territory. Most jurisdictions provide security of tenure after an initial probationary period and most jurisdictions have periodic reviews of eligibility (table 18.2).
• SOMIH — criteria are generally consistent with those for public housing once an applicant has been confirmed as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Terms of tenure for SOMIH are the same as those for public housing in most jurisdictions (table 18.3).
• Community housing — criteria are generally consistent with those for public housing in each jurisdiction (table 18.4).

Factors affecting waiting lists

State and Territory governments prioritise access to social housing in ways that generally reflect the urgent need to address homelessness and applicants’ inability to access appropriate private market accommodation (AIHW 2022a). All states and territories have adopted social housing waiting lists that are integrated across public housing, SOMIH (where applicable) and community housing.

Time waited for social housing is impacted by the availability of suitable dwellings. Nationally at 30 June 2022, the proportion of rental stock occupied was 96.6 per cent for public housing, 94.7 per cent for SOMIH, 95.3 per cent for community housing and 94.3 per cent for ICH (tables 18A.10–13). Occupancy rates are influenced by tenancy turnover as well as by housing supply and demand — dwellings that have, for example, reached the end of their useful life may require major redevelopment or replacement before being allocated to a new household.

‘Turnaround time’ is the number of days taken to allocate a newly vacated dwelling (that is fit for occupation) to a new household. The average turnaround time for vacant public housing and SOMIH stock varied within and across jurisdictions and over time (tables 18A.14-15) — noting that data are not comparable or complete across jurisdictions.

‘Priority access to those in greatest need’ is a proxy indicator of governments’ objective to provide services in an equitable manner.

‘Priority access to those in greatest need’ is defined as the proportion of new housing allocations that were to households in greatest need.

Greatest need households are defined as households that at the time of allocation are homeless, in housing inappropriate to their needs, in housing that is adversely affecting their health or placing their life and safety at risk, or, have very high rental housing costs.

This is a partial proxy indicator as information is not provided about the proportion of households on the waiting list that are ‘greatest need’ households. Households that are in greatest need are more likely to have members in selected equity groups, and there may be overlap between selected equity groups and greatest need groups (AIHW 2022a). A high or increasing proportion, particularly for short timeframes, may indicate a high degree of access for those households in greatest need.

Nationally in 2021-22, 83.0 per cent of new public housing allocations, 79.4 per cent of new SOMIH allocations and 76.8 per cent of new community housing allocations were to households in greatest need (figure 18.2a). Data by jurisdiction are available in figure 18.2b.

'Access of selected equity groups’ to social housing is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services in an equitable manner.

‘Access of selected equity groups’ is defined as the proportion of new housing allocations that were to households in selected equity groups.

Selected equity group households are defined as households that at the time of allocation have:

• for public housing and community housing — a household member with disability, a main tenant aged 24 years or under, a main tenant aged 75 years or over, and/or satisfy the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander household definition
• for SOMIH — a household member with disability, a principal tenant aged 24 years or under and/or a principal tenant aged 50 years or over.

The proportion of new tenancies in selected equity groups is reported as a proxy for measuring all households in selected equity groups. A high or increasing proportion indicates high or increasing access by households in selected equity groups.

Nationally in 2021-22, the proportion of new tenancies allocated to households in selected equity groups was 62.4 per cent for public housing, 46.5 per cent for SOMIH and 58.9 per cent for community housing (figure 18.3a). Data by jurisdiction are available in figure 18.3b.

‘Affordability’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services that are affordable.

‘Affordability’ is defined as the financial capacity of low–income households in social housing to meet rental costs. It is measured as the proportion of low–income social housing households in rental stress, where:

• ‘rental stress’ is defined as spending more than 30 per cent of gross household income (excluding CRA) on rent
• low–income households are defined as those in the bottom 40 per cent of equivalised gross household income (see section 18.3 for further detail). Low–income households are more likely to be adversely affected by relatively high housing costs than households with higher disposable incomes (Yates and Gabriel 2006; Yates and Milligan 2007).

Rental stress is mitigated through rental subsidies provided to eligible low–income social housing households by State and Territory governments. For public housing and SOMIH, rents are generally set at estimated market rates and subsidised for eligible households so that rental costs do not exceed a set proportion of assessable household income (25 per cent in most states and territories).

A low or decreasing proportion of social housing households spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent implies that social housing is more affordable.

Nationally at 30 June 2022, the majority of households in social housing were low income households. The proportion of low income social housing households in rental stress was 0.4 per cent for public housing, 0.4 per cent for SOMIH and 3.9 per cent for community housing (table18.5).

‘Time waited’ is an indicator of governments' objective to provide services that are timely.

‘Time waited’ is defined as the time waited by households that are newly allocated social housing in the reference year, and is reported for two household types:

• households in greatest need — time waited is measured from acceptance as a household in greatest need onto a social housing wait list and allocation of a dwelling
• non-greatest need households — time waited is measured from acceptance onto a social housing wait list and allocation of a dwelling.

Households in greatest need are defined as households that at the time of allocation are: homeless; in housing inappropriate to their needs; in housing that is adversely affecting their health or placing their life and safety at risk; or, have very high rental housing costs.

Time waited is presented as:

• the number of months within which 50 percent of newly allocated households were allocated a dwelling (the 50th percentile, or median). For example, if the 50th percentile is 7 months, 50 per cent of newly allocated households waited 7 months or less
• the number of months within which 75 percent of newly allocated households were allocated a dwelling (the 75th percentile). For example, if the 75th percentile is 12 months, 75 per cent of newly allocated households waited 12 months or less.

Households awaiting social housing allocation may receive other forms of government assistance to obtain or maintain housing: for example, Private Rent Assistance, homelessness services and/or Commonwealth Rent Assistance.

This indicator should be interpreted with caution. Factors external to government can drive changes in performance. Demand for social housing reflects the capacity of low income earners to access and maintain affordable housing in the private market. Rising rents or house prices and low wages growth can lead to rises in demand.

Governments can use a range of interventions to improve access to affordable housing for low income earners, thereby reducing demand for social housing. For example, stimulating new supply of affordable housing, incentives to increase affordability of existing housing and targeted financial assistance to low income earners.

Time waited for social housing reflects the collective impact of external factors and governments’ actions to address the need for affordable and social housing.

Time waited is also affected by differences across jurisdictions in social housing supply, allocation policy and waitlist management.

A low or decreasing time waited is desirable.

Nationally in 2021-22, 50 per cent of newly allocated households in public housing were allocated a dwelling within 7 months; 75 per cent were allocated a dwelling within 27 months.

Nationally in 2021-22, 50 per cent of newly allocated households in SOMIH were allocated a dwelling within 5 months; 75 per cent were allocated a dwelling within 20 months.

‘Match of dwelling to household size’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services that are appropriate, meeting the needs of individual households.

‘Match of dwelling to household size’ is defined as the proportion of households that are overcrowded.

Overcrowding is defined and measured using the Canadian National Occupancy Standard (CNOS), with households deemed to be overcrowded if one or more additional bedrooms are required to meet the standard (see sub–section 18.3 for CNOS definition). State and Territory housing authorities’ bedroom entitlement policies may differ from the CNOS.

The CNOS requires knowledge of the age, sex and relationship status of all tenants within a household, as well as the number of bedrooms. Households for which complete information is not available are excluded from data for this measure.

Low or decreasing proportions of households in social housing living in overcrowded conditions are desirable.

Nationally at 30 June 2022, the proportion of households that were overcrowded varied across social housing programs (4.5 per cent for public housing, 26.2 per cent for SOMIH, 3.6 per cent for community housing and 14.1 per cent for ICH.)

Data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households are in table 18A.34 and, by remoteness for public housing and SOMIH, in tables 18A.35-36. Data for underutilisation in public housing, SOMIH and community housing dwellings are reported in table 18A.37.

‘Amenity/location’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services that are appropriate, meeting the needs of individual households.

‘Amenity/location’ is defined as the proportion of households that rate dwellings as meeting their needs for particular aspects of amenity and location, and is presented as a mean of the proportion of households with needs met across (a) dwelling amenity aspects and (b) dwelling location aspects.

‘Amenity’ aspects include: number of bedrooms, privacy, safety and security — of the home, and of the neighbourhood — comfort in hot/cold weather and energy efficiency. Amenity aspects also include, for households rating them as important: size of living spaces, storage, fixtures/structural modifications for special needs, ease of access/entry from the street, car parking, access to an outdoor space, fencing/enclosure of the space, and water efficiency of the bathroom/toilet.

‘Location’ aspects include proximity to shops and banking facilities, medical services and family and friends. ‘Location’ aspects also include, for households rating them as important, proximity to facilities and services such as: public transport, hospitals, child care facilities, schools, TAFE, university or other training, employment/place of work, community services and parks, recreation or sporting facilities.

High or increasing proportions of households with amenity and location needs met are desirable.

Nationally in 2021, the majority of National Social Housing Survey respondents rated amenity and location aspects of their dwelling as meeting their household’s needs (table 18.8 and figure 18.6).

Amenity and location data for households with a member with disability are available in tables 18A.38–40.

‘Dwelling condition’ is a proxy indicator of governments’ objective to provide services that are high quality and safe.

‘Dwelling condition’ is defined as the proportion of households living in dwellings that meet agreed minimum acceptable standards. A dwelling is assessed as meeting minimum acceptable standards if it has at least four working facilities (for washing people, for washing clothes/bedding, for storing/preparing food, and for removing sewerage) and not more than two major structural problems.

This is a proxy indicator of safety as it measures the extent to which dwellings conform to agreed minimum standards. The survey collections ask respondents:

• which of a list of facilities is present in their dwelling and whether each is in working order
• which of a list of structural problems is present in their dwelling (AIHW 2022b).

A high or increasing proportion of households living in dwellings that meet minimum acceptable standards suggests a low or decreasing risk of harm from poor dwelling condition.

Nationally in 2021 (where data are available), while the majority of social housing respondents lived in dwellings of an acceptable standard (76.0 per cent for public housing, 63.7 per cent for SOMIH and 81.9 per cent for community housing), the proportions have decreased 4–10 percentage points from 2018 (table 18.9 and figure 18.7).

Historical Indigenous community housing data are available in table 18A.44.

‘Sustainability’ is an indicator of government’s objective to provide services that are sustainable.

‘Sustainability’ is broadly defined as the extent to which current social housing needs are met with reference to the need for future generations to meet their own social housing needs. In its broadest sense, this could consider financial, social and environmental sustainability.

Further development of this indicator concept and potential measure(s) will be considered with reference to the policy environment.

‘Net recurrent cost per dwelling’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services in an efficient manner.

‘Net recurrent cost per dwelling’ is defined as the cost of providing assistance per dwelling and is measured as total net recurrent expenditure divided by the total number of dwellings.

Data are reported for public housing, SOMIH, community housing and ICH. Net recurrent cost per dwelling for public housing and for SOMIH for 2017‑18 and subsequent years is reported with user cost of capital both included and excluded. User cost of capital data are not available for SOMIH prior to 2017‑18, nor for community housing or ICH. For ICH, total number of dwellings is the number of permanent dwellings.

An inconsistency between numerator and denominator with a deflationary effect on community housing cost per dwelling may result from transfer of management responsibility for some public housing and/or SOMIH stock to the community sector, which is underway in some jurisdictions and planned to occur progressively over time in most others. The denominator (number of community housing dwellings at 30 June) may include dwellings for which expenditure for only part of the reporting year is counted in the numerator. This inconsistency is not expected to apply for public housing and SOMIH as the denominator (the average of the number of dwellings for each month of the reporting year) largely accounts for transfer of dwellings to the community sector.

Care needs to be taken in interpreting the cost of delivering social housing. Data are not comparable across jurisdictions as jurisdictions vary in how completely costs are captured and how consistently data are collected, as well as the degree to which costs can be separated between different models of social housing and homelessness services. There is also potential for double counting — for example, some of the user cost of capital may also be included in operating costs.

The user cost of capital is the cost of the funds tied up in the capital used to provide social housing. User cost of capital is the main driver of cost per dwelling due to the level of capital expenditure on housing. Data should be interpreted with caution due to variation across jurisdictions in the treatment of assets (table 18.13) and service delivery models.

Holding other factors — such as dwelling condition and tenant support services — equal, a low or decreasing cost per dwelling is desirable.

Nationally in 2021-22, the net recurrent cost per dwelling excluding user cost of capital (UCC) was $10 655 for public housing ($46 339 if UCC included), $13 982 for SOMIH ($50 647 if UCC included) and $13 195 for ICH. Nationally in 2020-21, the net recurrent cost per dwelling excluding UCC was $9256 for community housing (table 18.11). Ten-year time series data are available for public housing and SOMIH in tables 18A.48-49. A nine-year time series is reported for community housing in table 18A.50 and a six-year time series for ICH in table 18A.51. Data by jurisdiction are available in figure 18.9.

‘Wellbeing, social and economic participation’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services that support wellbeing and contribute to social and economic participation.

Living in stable, safe and secure housing has many benefits, including improved household wellbeing and greater capacity to participate in social and economic activity (Brackertz et al., 2017, Davison et al., 2021). These benefits can accrue to people living in social housing as well as people living in private housing.

‘Wellbeing, social and economic participation’ is defined as the proportion of social housing tenants who self‑report that they experience wellbeing, social connection and economic participation opportunities through living in social housing.

Data are sourced from the National Social Housing Survey (NSHS), which asks tenants ‘For you, what are the benefits of living in social housing’. Tenants are asked to select ‘Yes, it is a benefit’, ‘No, it is not a benefit’ or ‘Not applicable’ for each of ten nominated benefits. Composites of the nominated benefits are reported as:

• ‘Wellbeing’ (‘enjoy better health’, ‘feel more settled’ and ‘feel more able to cope with life events’)
• ‘Social connection’ (‘feel part of the local community’ and ‘able to continue living in this area’)
• ‘Economic participation opportunities’ (‘able to manage rent/money better’, ‘feel more able to improve job situation’, ‘feel more able to start or continue education/training’, ‘have better access to services’ and ‘have better access to public transport’).

The 2021 NSHS was conducted among public housing tenants (all jurisdictions), community housing (all jurisdictions except the NT) and state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH [NSW, Queensland, SA and Tasmania]). For more information on response rates, sampling error and survey coverage, see the NSHS data quality statement on the AIHW website.

A high or increasing proportion of social housing tenants self-reporting that they experience health, social and economic benefits through living in social housing is desirable.

Data for households with a member with disability are available in tables 18A.52–54.

Nationally in 2021 (where data are available), the majority of social housing respondents self-reported that they experienced wellbeing, social connection and economic participation opportunities through living in social housing (table 18.12 and figure 18.10). For all households across each social housing type and composite benefit (‘wellbeing’, ‘social connection’ and ‘economic participation’), between 93.2 and 98.3 per cent of respondents reported deriving a benefit from living in social housing. The most common benefits derived were feeling more settled (94.6–95.9 per cent) and being able to manage rent/money better (92.8–94.2 per cent). The least common benefit derived was feeling more able to improve their job situation (65.5–79.3 per cent) (tables 18A.52–54).

a .. Not applicable. b Market value is the current (net) value market selling price or exchange value. c Victoria revalues properties every 5 years by kerbside inspection, with the most recent revaluation completed in 2018‑19. In interim years, asset value movements are assessed based on indices — if found to be material (>10 per cent), a Managerial Revaluation is undertaken, and, if found to be exceptionally material (>= 40 per cent), an Interim Valuation is undertaken. d Useful asset life for leased assets: 40 years (2.5 per cent straight line depreciation). e SOMIH dwellings are in remote areas on land not owned by government.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished).

Source: AIHW (unpublished).