In February 2010, over 90 community housing organisations from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland participated in a study undertaken by Cordelta Pty Ltd, on behalf of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the Housing Ministers' Advisory Committee (HMAC).
The information provided as part of the study has allowed us to gain a valuable understanding of the issues faced by the community housing sector in providing data for AIHW's national data collection.
The study found that community housing organisations vary greatly in their ability to capture and supply comprehensive unit record data in the required format. Some organisations may need to upgrade their systems and review their associated processes to gather and store complete data, while other organisations already have fully automated systems in place.
Some of the main data capture and supply issues raised by respondents were:
- Staff availability / increased workload / skills
- Absence of adequate information systems
- Relevance of the data collection
- Duplicate reporting
- Compliance with national reporting format
Many respondents indicated they were willing to invest in the development of organisation capabilities and recognised that more capable information systems would alleviate many of the issues identified.
The study found that community housing organisations generally have a positive attitude to the provision of data for national reporting purposes with 84% of respondents saying they would be willing to voluntarily supply data assuming adequate time and resources were available.
Following the study, the AIHW are working with state and territory housing authorities to address key areas for development of the community housing data collection and associated processes. This is likely to involve further discussions with the community housing sector and inform future development of a nationally consistent approach to collecting community housing data.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the community housing team at AIHW at or your local state housing authority.
Additional background information is given in the AIHW's letter to participants about the study and can be reviewed below: