Type of housing
Living in the community
In 2018, 96% of people with disability (87% of people with severe or profound disability) lived in the community (in private dwellings).
Ageing in place
In 2018, 99% of people aged under 65 with disability lived in private dwellings, compared with 91% of people aged 65 and over.
Dwelling type
Most (82% in 2018) people with disability who live in private dwellings live in a separate house, similar to people without disability (81%).
On this page:
Introduction
The type of housing a person lives in can affect other aspects of their lives. While most people with disability live at home in the community (in private dwellings), some live in cared accommodation.
Data note
Data on this page are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). For more information about the SDAC, including the concepts of disability, disability severity, disability groups, and remoteness categories used by the SDAC, see ‘Data sources’.
Unless otherwise indicated, all data on this page refer to 2018.
Private dwellings and cared accommodation
Private dwellings
In the SDAC, private dwellings include self-cared accommodation for the retired or aged, and other private dwellings, including houses, flats, home units, garages, tents and other structures used as private places of residence.
People living in private dwellings are also referred to in this report as people living in the community, or people living in households.
Cared accommodation
Cared accommodation is usually long term and may be institutional in style. In the SDAC, cared accommodation includes hospitals, residential aged care, cared components of retirement villages, aged care hostels, psychiatric institutions, and other homes (such as group homes for people with disability). To be included the person must have been, or is expected to be, a resident of the cared accommodation for 3 months or more. The accommodation must include all meals for its occupants and provide 24-hour access to assistance for personal and/or medical needs (ABS 2019a).
For information about younger people in residential aged care, see ‘Younger people in residential aged care’.
Living in private dwellings or cared accommodation
While most people with disability (96% or 4.2 million) live in private dwellings (in the community), this was not always so. In the past, many, particularly those with severe or profound disability, lived in cared accommodation.
Recent decades, however, have seen a large shift towards supporting people with disability to live in private dwellings. This has mostly been driven by changes for young people with disability. For example, 1 in 500 people aged 0–34 with severe or profound disability lived in cared accommodation in 2018, compared with around 1 in 100 in 2003 (ABS 2019b).
Younger people (aged under 65) with disability are more likely than older people (aged 65 and over) with disability to live in private dwellings (99% or 2.4 million, compared with 91% or 1.8 million) (ABS 2019b).
The more severe a person's disability is, the more likely they are to live in cared accommodation and the less likely they are to live in the community – 87% (or 1.2 million) of people with severe or profound disability live in private dwellings, compared with close to 100% (or 2.9 million) with other disability (Table HOUSING.1). This difference is smaller among younger people with disability than older people with disability:
- 99% (or 716,000) of people aged under 65 with severe or profound disability live in private dwellings, compared with close to 100% (or 1.7 million) of those with other disability
- 75% (or 517,000) of people aged 65 and over with severe or profound disability and over do so, compared with close to 100% (or 1.3 million) of those with other disability (Table HOUSING.1, ABS 2019b).
Disability status | Under 65 | 65 and over | All ages |
|---|---|---|---|
Severe or profound disability | 98.6 | 75.3 | 87.1 |
Other disability status | 100.0 | 99.7 | 99.8 |
All with disability | 99.4 | 91.0 | 95.7 |
Note: Private dwellings include self-cared accommodation for the aged or retired, and other private dwellings such as houses and flats.
Source: ABS 2019b; see also Table HOUS2, Data tables – Type of housing. View data tables
The proportion of people with disability aged under 65 who live in private dwellings is high and there is not much variation by disability group. In contrast, there are substantial differences by disability group for those aged 65 and over. People aged 65 and over with physical or sensory disability are more likely to live in private dwellings (89% or 1.2 million, and 88% or 856,000 respectively) than those with head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury (75% or 111,000), psychosocial disability (63% or 226,000), or intellectual disability (52% or 105,000) (Table HOUSING.2).
Disability group | Under 65 | 65 and over | All ages |
|---|---|---|---|
Sensory and speech | 98.6 | 88.4 | 92.1 |
Intellectual | 97.8 | 51.9 | 85.8 |
Physical restriction | 99.3 | 88.5 | 93.9 |
Psychosocial | 98.6 | 63.2 | 87.4 |
Head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury | 96.5 | 74.9 | 87.3 |
Other | 99.2 | 84.0 | 92.3 |
All with disability | 99.4 | 91.0 | 95.7 |
Note: Private dwellings include self-cared accommodation for the aged or retired, and other private dwellings such as houses and flats.
Source: ABS 2019b; see also Table HOUS5, Data tables – Type of housing. View data tables
Dwelling type
About 4 in 5 (82% or 3.4 million) people with disability living in private dwellings live in a separate house (that is, a house separated from other dwellings by at least half a metre – see ABS: dwelling structure for classifications). This is similar to those without disability (81% or 16.4 million).
People aged 65 and over are about as likely to live in a separate house as those aged under 65:
- people with disability – 80% (or 1.4 million) compared with 83% (or 2.0 million)
- people without disability – 82% (or 1.6 million) compared with 81% (or 14.8 million) (ABS 2019b).
The most common type of home for people with disability who do not live in a separate house is a single storey semi-detached house (such as a row or terrace house or townhouse) (42% or 323,000). Those aged 65 and over are more likely (53% or 184,000) than those aged under 65 (34% or 143,000) to live in this type of dwelling (Figure HOUSING.1).
Figure HOUSING.1: Private dwelling other than separate house, by disability status and age group, 2018
The chart shows that, of those not in a separate house, people with disability most commonly live in a single storey semi-detached townhouse (42%).
Note: Data are for people living in households (in private dwellings), excluding those who live in a separate house.
Source data tables: Data tables – Type of housing. View data tables
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2019a) Disability, ageing and carers, Australia: summary of findings, 2018, ABS, accessed 30 July 2021.
ABS (2019b) Microdata: disability, ageing and carers, Australia, 2018, ABS cat. no. 4430.0.30.002, ABS, AIHW analysis of TableBuilder data, accessed 6 October 2021.