National data reports

Social housing data

Data on people seeking and receiving social housing assistance in either community housing or dwellings managed by state and territory housing authorities are collected by the AIHW.  These data are used for a variety of performance reporting and analysis purposes including being provided to the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision.

Data were provided by all states and territories and funded by the Housing Ministers’ Advisory Committee and the AIHW. The AIHW would like to thank the Housing and Homelessness Information Management Group for its direction in preparing this data and the Housing Ministers Advisory Committee for funding this work. The AIHW would also like to acknowledge the efforts and cooperation of the data providers at each state and territory housing authority and participating community housing organisations.

Summary data items, performance indicators and associated specifications are provided below for:

• Public rental housing 2008–09
• State owned and managed Indigenous housing 2008–09
• Community housing 2008–09

Housing assistance programs and published statistics

Descriptions of the various housing assistance programs are available here. Further details on results from the National Social Housing Surveys are available here and all other published statistics here.

Data repository

The National Housing Assistance Data Repository contains nationally consistent housing data sets such as the housing National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) and the National Social Housing Survey (NSHS). Its main purpose is to contribute to performance reporting under the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement (CSHA).

Details regarding the data available in the repository can be found here. The current specifications for the Public housing and state owned and managed Indigenous housing NMDS are available by emailing housing@aihw.gov.au.

Accessing the data repository

The repository can be accessed by government agencies, community organisations, research organisations and individuals. The application process will vary according to the applicant and the type of information they are seeking.

To apply to access the repository applicants should first read the applicable protocols for the release of information (86KB DOC). These protocols are not designed to restrict access to the data held in the repository, but are there to protect the privacy of individual housing clients and organisations. Applicants should submit to the Data custodian the required pro forma, which is either the:

• NHDR Request for Aggregated Data pro forma, (39KB DOC) or the
• NHDR Request for Unit Record Data pro forma (46KB DOC).

Applicants seeking identifiable unit record data must also complete the AIHW Ethics Committee Request for opinion on ethical acceptability of project form (210KB DOC) and sign The Undertaking (320KB DOC).

Data held in the repository can be provided in one of four formats:

• data aggregated to the national level
• data aggregated to the state or territory level;
• data provided as a unit record file of non-identifiable data; and
• data provided as a file of identifiable unit record data. (Note, however, that at this stage the Repository does not contain explicit identifiers, such as names).

General inquiries can be made to the Data Custodian, tel. 61 2 6244 1073 or email .