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.

Latest findings

Couch surfers are more likely to be female, younger (15–24 years), not in the labour force and live alone Community housing continues to grow, more than doubling between 2008–09 and 2016–17 (from 39,800 to 82,900 dwellings) Social housing stock not keeping pace with household growth; 5.1 per 100 households in 2007–08 down to 4.6, 2016–17 1 in 5 (20%) couch surfers experienced repeat episodes of homelessness Long-term housing was provided to only a small proportion (12%) of couch surfers who needed it Nationally, between 4% and 24% of dwellings were considered overcrowded, and between 7% and 26% underutilised in 2016–17 812,900 tenants in 396,100 households were living in the main social housing programs across Australia in 2016–17 Waitlists for social housing remain long, with 189,400 households awaiting social housing allocation at 30 June 2017 Of all the couch surfers who presented as homeless to an SHS agency, 33% were housed at the end of the reporting period

Latest reports

See all reports

Highlights

396,100households were in social housing in 2016–17
4% to 24%of social housing dwellings were overcrowded in 2016–17
108%increase in the number of mainstream community housing dwellings between 2008–09 and 2016–17
189,000applicants were on waiting lists for social housing as at 30 June 2017