Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 Outcomes Framework: 3rd annual report

Living in housing that is affordable, safe and with long-term security is important to provide a sense of home and to be able to participate in the community (Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031). People living with disability often struggle to find affordable housing, and are vulnerable to housing or rental stress and homelessness (Anglicare Australia 2022). They may also struggle to find accommodation that is appropriate to their needs.

Average time waited for social housing allocation

Social housing programs are rental housing owned or managed by the government – public housing, and state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH) – or a community organisation (community housing, or Indigenous community housing) (AIHW 2024b).

Each state, territory or organisation that provides social housing determines its own priorities for allocating its stock according to need. Priorities typically fall across ‘special needs’ and ‘greatest need’ categories. Social housing households that include people with disability or other key demographics are considered as special needs households. These households may also be regarded as being in greatest need if it is experiencing or is at risk of homelessness, meaning existing accommodation:

• poses a threat to life or safety,
• exacerbates a health condition,
• is inappropriate to needs, or
• has very high rental costs.

Households in greatest need are generally prioritised for allocation by social housing; however, other factors are also considered during allocation processes (see AIHW 2024b).

The Outcomes Framework intended to track the average time waited for all social housing for people with disability. Measure wording has been revised in this report to reflect available data more accurately (see Appendix B: List of measures).

Time waited data are currently available for public housing and SOMIH, but not available for households allocated community housing or Indigenous community housing. The measure is reported here as:

• Average time waited for newly allocated households with a member with disability in public housing or SOMIH.

The desired key system outcome for this measure is that social housing supports people with disability to live in secure housing.

Latest results: 2022–23

Public housing

• In 2022–23, the average time waited for public housing by newly allocated households (with a member with disability) was 637 days – 224 more days than in 2020–21 (413 days) indicating regress since the Strategy began (Figure 3.1).
• While the change between 2020–21 and 2021–22 was larger than earlier changes observed in the historical data, the average time waited was lower than previous highs seen in 2014–15 (682) and 2017–18 (587).

SOMIH

• In 2022–23, the average time waited for SOMIH by newly allocated households (with a member with disability) was 406 days – 17 more days than in 2020–21 (389 days) indicating regress since the Strategy began (Figure 3.1).
• The change between 2020–21 and 2022–23 (17 days) was lower than the change between 2019–20 and 2020–21 (28 days), and is the lowest change observed in the data.

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Overall, the total number of newly allocated households in social housing fell between 2020–21 and 2022–23 for both public housing (15,144 and 16,446 respectively) but decreased for SOMIH (993 and 702 respectively).
• The proportion of newly allocated households (with a member with disability) in public housing decreased slightly from 2020–21 (36%) to 2022–23 (34%). 
• There was very little difference in the proportion of newly allocated households (with a member with disability) in SOMIH for 2020–21 (13%) and 2022–23 (14%). 
• The average time waited can be influenced by the size of the dwelling required, as well as by the amenities or modifications needed to accommodate a person’s disability.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Average time waited for social housing.

Lower income housing stress

Housing affordability can be examined by looking at whether the housing costs of a household will likely affect their ability to afford other living costs, such as food, clothing, transport and utilities. A common threshold applied is the proportion of households spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Those households whose equivalised disposable household income falls in the bottom 40% of Australia’s income distribution, excluding the bottom 2%, are referred to as lower income households (ABS 2022). Lower income households that spend more than 30% of gross household income on housing costs are considered to be in financial housing stress (AIHW 2024a).

Ensuring access to affordable, accessible housing is essential for reducing housing stress and empowering people with disability to live independently and participate fully in their communities.

The desired population outcome of this measure is to see a reduction in people with disability in housing stress.

The updated data for this measure (2019–20) represents the baseline data and replaces the pre-baseline data included in the first annual report. Data for 2023–24 is expected to be available in 2025 and will be included in the 2026 annual report.

Latest results: 2019–20 (Baseline)

• In 2019–20, 18% of households with at least one person with disability in the lowest 40% income distribution had housing costs that exceeded 30% of household income. 
• The proportion of households experiencing housing cost stress was highest in 2015–16 (22%) and lowest in 2019–20 (18%) across the 4 time periods for which data are reported.

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Households are defined as households with disability if they include at least one member aged 15 and over with disability. These data do not include households with one or more members with disability aged 14 and under.
• The 2019–20 SIH was carried out from July 2019 and June 2020. During this time, Australians were impacted by bushfires and COVID-19. The data collection design for this survey was optimised to meet operational objectives. As a result, the sample design and collection of 2019–20 SIH does not accurately reflect the household impacts of the bushfires nor COVID-19.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Lower income housing stress.