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.

Housing Data Dashboard

Your window into housing and homelessness data, including 64 interactive displays showcasing the latest publicly available data on housing in Australia.

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Latest findings

Satisfaction rose significantly for public housing tenants in the Northern Territory—from 72% in 2014 to 79% in 2018 There were around 436,300 social housing dwellings, a 7% increase since 2006, at 30 June 2020 Tenants gain multiple benefits from living in social housing, including feeling more settled and managing rent better 3 in 4 public housing tenants and 4 in 5 community housing tenants were satisfied with their housing services Satisfaction is closely related to the condition of tenants’ homes: as structural problems rise, satisfaction falls Nearly 4 in 10 social housing tenants say their home is not comfortable in the heat or cold 2 in 3 tenants living in state owned and managed Indigenous housing were satisfied with their housing services 3 in 4 social housing tenants Australia-wide were satisfied with services provided by their housing organisation Social housing tenants in Queensland had the highest satisfaction rate in 2018 (85%) June 2020, just under one-third (29%) of income units were in rental stress after receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance

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Highlights

There were 416,200 households in the four main social housing programs, at 30 June 2020
155,100households were on a waiting list for public housing, at 30 June 2020
The number of income units receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance increased from around 1.3 million at 28 June 2019 to 1.7 million in June 2020
51%of the newly allocated greatest need households experienced homelessness prior to commencing their public housing tenancy, in 2019–20
Rental stressIn 2020, just under one-third (29%) of income units were in rental stress after receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance.