Overview
Assistance provided by governments and community organisations is available to eligible Australians who may have difficulties securing stable and affordable housing – this support is collectively referred to as housing assistance.
Secure and affordable housing is fundamental to the wellbeing of all Australians. It provides a platform for many of life's benefits, including stable employment, connection to the community and a sense of home.
Unfortunately, many Australians are not able to access affordable, suitable housing with their own economic and social resources, and may need the support of housing assistance. Housing assistance encompasses a range of state, territory and Australian Government programs that help low-income households secure and maintain housing. Housing assistance encompasses home purchase assistance, rent assistance, the provision of social housing, and services supporting people to maintain tenancies. Social housing includes all rental housing owned and managed by government, or by not-for-profit community organisations, which can be let to eligible households. Social housing programs across Australia comprise:
- public housing (also referred to as ‘public rental housing’)
- state owned and managed Indigenous housing
- community housing (also referred to as ‘mainstream community housing’).
The AIHW manages the national data collections for various housing assistance programs, comprising public rental housing, community housing, state owned and managed Indigenous housing, Indigenous community housing, private rent assistance, and home purchase assistance. It reports annually on the performance of these programs, and also releases reports on related topics of interest.
The AIHW, in collaboration with key government and non-government stakeholders, collects and analyses national housing assistance data.
The AIHW does not manage housing assistance programs. For more information on eligibility for housing assistance or on how to apply for housing assistance, please contact your state or territory housing department.
Featured reports
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Housing assistance in Australia 2023
Web report |
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National social housing survey 2023
Web report |
Latest findings
The proportion of households living in social housing in Australia decreased from 4.8% in 2011 to 4.1% in 2022
In 2021–22, there were around 815,500 occupants living in Australia’s main social housing programs
The highest number of overcrowded dwellings were in public housing and in Major Cities (over 9,100 households)
More than 2 in 3 tenants (69%) were satisfied with the overall services provided by their social housing organisation
Nearly 4 in 5 tenants (79%) reported economic, health and social benefits from living in social housing
Satisfaction was closely related to the condition of tenants’ homes: as structural problems increased, satisfaction fell
More reports and statistics on housing assistance can be found under Homelessness services. The AIHW’s Housing data dashboard also contains the latest housing and homelessness data from over 20 national data sets, brought together in one place.