Summary
Having a roof over one’s head is generally regarded as essential to a person’s health and wellbeing. However, not all Australians have the same access to safe and affordable housing.
Social housing programs provide rental housing at below market rates to low-to-moderate income Australians who may otherwise struggle to find affordable housing. In recent years, social housing has been targeted less to low-income working families and more to those in greatest need, including people who are homeless, live with disability, or are experiencing family or domestic violence.
This report presents key results from the 2018 National Social Housing Survey. It looks at tenants’ satisfaction with their social housing and how this has changed over time, and the differences between states and territories. For the first time, it examines how different characteristics relate to tenant satisfaction levels, after accounting for other factors. The factors examined include housing program, household composition and demographics, and the location and condition of tenants’ homes.
The main social housing programs in Australia are:
- public housing (PH)
- state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH)
- community housing (CH)
Summary
1. Introduction
- What is social housing?
- How many social housing dwellings are there and who lives in them?
- Current housing policy
- National Social Housing Survey
- Understanding differences in tenant satisfaction
- Using this report
2. Overall satisfaction with services
- Satisfaction rates by program and jurisdiction-descriptive statistics
- Results from the regression analysis of tenant satisfaction
- Regression results shed light on priority populations
3. Benefits of living in social housing
- Tenants gain economic, health and social benefits
- Tenants feel settled and can manage their rent
- Tenants in remote areas feel part of the community
4. Satisfaction with amenities
- Safety and security most important to tenants
- Tenants’ amenity needs are well met
- Are housing amenities meeting the needs of priority groups?
5. Satisfaction with location
- Did the location of a tenant’s home meet their needs?
- Home location and priority groups
6. Satisfaction with maintenance services
- Program differences in satisfaction with maintenance services are smaller in 2018
- Tenants living in homes with structural problems want better maintenance
7. Indigenous community housing
Appendix A: 2018 NSHS data collection and reporting methodology
- Introduction
- Data collection
- Reporting methodology-respondents versus households
Appendix B: Sample alignment with administrative data
Appendix C: Regression analysis-details of method and results
End matter: Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Symbols; Glossary; References; List of tables; Related publications;