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.

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.

Latest findings

At June 2019, 1.3 million income units received Commonwealth Rent Assistance 3 in 4 public housing tenants and 4 in 5 community housing tenants were satisfied with their housing services Tenants gain multiple benefits from living in social housing, including feeling more settled and managing rent better 3 in 4 social housing tenants Australia-wide were satisfied with services provided by their housing organisation Satisfaction is closely related to the condition of tenants’ homes: as structural problems rise, satisfaction falls At 30 June 2019, there were around 797,100 occupants in Australia’s main social housing programs Satisfaction rose significantly for public housing tenants in the Northern Territory—from 72% in 2014 to 79% in 2018 Nearly 4 in 10 social housing tenants say their home is not comfortable in the heat or cold Social housing tenants in Queensland had the highest satisfaction rate in 2018 (85%) 2 in 3 tenants living in state owned and managed Indigenous housing were satisfied with their housing services

Featured reports

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Highlights

2 in 5households in public housing had been in their tenancies for 10 years or more
Community housingThe number of community housing dwellings has more than tripled; from 32,300 in 2006, to 100,200 dwellings in 2019
1 in 2newly allocated households in public housing went to households considered to be both greatest and special needs
4 in 5social housing households were in dwellings adequate to their household composition, at 30 June 2019
2 in 5In 2019, 2 in 5 income units were in rental stress after receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance