Housing assistance
Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA)
At June 2022, 1 in 5 (20%) individuals and families receiving CRA received Disability Support Pension (DSP) as their primary income support payment.
Rental stress
At June 2022, 1 in 3 (33%) income units receiving CRA and with DSP as the primary income support payment were in rental stress.
People with disability in social housing
1 in 3 (36%) social housing households at June 2022 had at least one person with disability.
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Introduction
Housing assistance can provide vital support for people with disability who live in a household that cannot meet the costs of accessing or maintaining housing.
Housing assistance can be short or long term and can vary depending on the needs of the person and/or household. It is generally provided through:
- provision of subsidised rental housing – for example, social housing (see ‘Social housing’ and ‘Tenure type’ sections in this report, and Housing assistance on the AIHW website)
- financial payments – for example, Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) and other support for private renters (see ‘Commonwealth Rent Assistance’ section in this report)
- specialist homelessness services – see ‘Homelessness services’ section in this report and Homelessness services on the AIHW website.
Rent assistance
Commonwealth Rent Assistance
CRA is a non-taxable Australian Government income supplement made to eligible people renting in the private housing market or community housing to assist with their cost of housing. See Commonwealth Rent Assistance on the Department of Social Services website for details about eligibility. It is the most common form of housing assistance received by Australian households overall. At 30 June 2023, nearly 1.3 million individuals and families received CRA (DSS 2023).
Private rent assistance (PRA)
PRA is financial assistance provided directly by all state and territory governments to low‑income households experiencing difficulty in securing or maintaining private rental accommodation. Private rent assistance is usually provided as a one-off form of support and includes bond loans, rental grants, rental subsidies and relief, and payment of relocation expenses. In 2021–22, PRA was provided to 56,900 households. Bond loans (43,470 households) were the most common type of PRA followed by one-off rental grants (19,160 households). DSP is the main source of income for 17% of PRA recipients (AIHW 2023b).
Housing supports provided under the National Disability Insurance Scheme
The NDIS provides a range of housing and living supports and services (see the NDIS website for more information). These include home modifications and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).
SDA is housing designed for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. SDA funding is provided to only a small proportion of NDIS participants who meet specific eligibility criteria. See SDA on the NDIS website for more information.
Home modifications are custom-built changes to a participant's home to help them access and use areas of their home. These may range from minor changes like widening a doorway to more complex structural changes to several areas of the home. For more information on home modifications, see the NDIS website.
For more information about NDIS services and participants, see ‘Specialist disability support services’ section in this report.
In addition to housing assistance, there are initiatives specifically for people with disability. These include supports provided though the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) – Special Disability Accommodation (SDA) and home modifications.
At 30 June 2023, nationally 3.8% (or 23,100) of active participant plans included SDA (NDIA 2023c).
At 30 June 2023, 1 in 16 (6.2% or 37,900) active participants received supports for home modifications. This included 1 in 18 male participants (5.5% or 20,500) and 1 in 13 female participants (7.5% or 17,100) (NDIA 2023a). The average annualised support payment under this category was $263,000. The average support payments were highest for participants with stroke ($459,000), spinal cord injury ($394,000), or other neurological condition ($416,000) (NDIS 2023b).
Home modification supports varied by age. Of the 37,900 participants who received supports for home modifications, almost 4 in 5 were aged 35 and over (79% or 29,900); people in this age group made up about one-third (32%) of all NDIS participants (NDIA 2023a).
Commonwealth Rent Assistance
Appropriate housing for people living with disability can often be difficult to get or maintain without additional financial assistance, such as Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA).
At 30 June 2022, 20% of CRA income units received the Disability Support Pension (DSP) as their primary payment type (DSS 2022). Other common income support payments, relevant to people with disability, received by CRA income units as their primary payment type were:
- JobSeeker Payment (24%)
- Age Pension (23%)
- Carer Payment (5.9%) (AIHW 2023b).
At 30 June 2022, 270,000 income units received both DSP and CRA. Of those:
- 2 in 3 (63% or 171,000) lived in private rental properties, compared with 75% (or 1.0 million) of all CRA income units
- the remaining 1 in 3 (37% or 99,000) income units receiving both DSP and CRA had other types of rental arrangements including board and/or lodging, Defence Force housing, maintenance fees for nursing home or retirement village, mooring fees, other housing organisations, respite care fees, site fees, and other rent types
- 1 in 2 (47% or 126,000) paid less than $200 rent per week, compared with 35% (or 476,000) of all CRA income units
- 33% (or 89,000) of DSP and CRA income units paid $200 to less than $300 and 20% (or 55,000) paid $300 or more
- 2 in 3 (65% or 177,000) received rent assistance of $70 or more per week, compared with half (53%, or 717,000) of all CRA income units (AIHW 2023a). It should be noted that single CRA recipients who share their accommodation with others are only entitled to a maximum rate of CRA of two-thirds of that for singles living alone. CRA recipients on DSP who share accommodation are exempt from this provision and are paid up to the maximum rate for a single person on income support (DSS 2024).
Rental stress
Rental stress is defined as spending more than 30% of gross household income (excluding CRA) on rent (after CRA is deducted from rent). At 30 June 2022:
- 33% (or 90,000) of income units receiving CRA and DSP were in rental stress after receiving CRA. Without CRA, 74% (or 199,000) of these income units would have been in rental stress
- 44% (or 582,000) of all CRA income units were in rental stress after receipt of CRA and 72% (or 955,000) would have been in rental stress without CRA (AIHW 2023a).
Social housing
Around 145,000 social housing households have at least one person with disability (at June 2022). This makes up 36% of all social housing households. A further 54% of social housing households do not have a member with disability, and for the remaining 9.4%, disability status of the household is unknown (AIHW 2023c).
The proportions of households with disability vary by housing program:
- Public housing has the highest proportion of households that have at least one person with known disability (39% or 111,000 households).
- Among households in state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH), 19% (or 2,600) have at least one member with known disability, however SOMIH has the highest proportion of households with unknown disability status (35% or 4,700 households).
- In community housing, 31% (or 31,700) of households have at least one member with known disability (AIHW 2023c).
Data note
Data in this section are sourced from Housing assistance in Australia which reports on 3 of the main social housing programs in Australia:
- public housing
- state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH)
- community housing.
What is social housing?
Social housing is one of the main forms of housing assistance provided in Australia. It is low cost or subsidised rental housing owned or managed by the government or a community organisation, let to eligible people.
How do social housing programs define disability?
Disability in social housing programs is defined as an impairment of body structure or function, a limitation in activities, and/or a restriction in participation.
Priority households – special needs and greatest need
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.
Special needs households include households that have:
- at least one person with disability
- a main tenant younger than 25 years or 75 or over (50 or over for SOMIH)
- at least one person who identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
Greatest need households are low-income households in which, at the time of allocation, members are experiencing:
- homelessness
- risk to life or safety in their accommodation
- aggravation of their health condition due to their housing
- housing inappropriate to their needs
- very high rental costs.
Households may be identified as greatest need or special needs or both.
Newly allocated public housing households
In 2021–22, more than 1 in 3 (36% or 5,400) newly allocated public housing households had at least one person with disability. These households made up over half (58%) of newly allocated households with special needs in public housing.
About 9 in 10 (89% or 4,800) newly allocated public housing households that have at least one person with disability are households in greatest need. Common main reasons are:
- homelessness (55% of newly allocated public housing households with disability and in greatest need – where the greatest need reason is known)
- health condition aggravated by housing (17%)
- life or safety at risk in accommodation (15%) (AIHW 2023c).
Newly allocated SOMIH households
In 2021–22, around 1 in 6 (16% or 105) newly allocated SOMIH households had at least one person with known disability, while disability status was unknown for 37% (or 235) of households. Of those with known disability, 86% (or 75 households) were in greatest need (where greatest need status is known). Common main reasons were:
- homelessness (51% of newly allocated SOMH households with disability and in greatest need – where the greatest need reason is known)
- health condition aggravated by housing (15%)
- life or safety at risk in accommodation (21%) (AIHW 2023c).
Household characteristics
Household characteristics discussed in this section include the composition of the household, income status, Indigenous status of the household, and demographic information relating to the main tenant.
Household composition is based on the relationship between household members. Of households that have at least one person with disability (where disability status is known) (Figure ASSISTANCE.1):
- the majority are single-adult households (63% or 90,300), this is higher than for households that do not have a person with disability (where 59% or 123,000 are single-adult households) (where household composition is known)
- 1 in 5 (18% or 25,400) are group or mixed composition households (15% or 31,900 without disability) (where household composition is known)
- 1 in 14 (8.6% or 12,300) are single-parent households (16% or 32,900 without disability) (where household composition is known) (AIHW 2023c).
Almost all (100% or 110,000) public housing and SOMIH households with disability are low-income, as are households without disability (100% or 143,000) (where income status is known) (AIHW 2023c). Households are considered low income if their equivalised household income is in the bottom 40% of incomes based on the ABS Survey of Income and Housing. Income information is not available for households in community housing.
One in 10 (9.9% or 14,400) public and community housing households with disability are First Nations households (a household is defined as a First Nations household if it has at least one member who identifies as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin). First Nations households make up 11% (or 24,800) of all households without disability (where disability status is known). Note that 60,000 households (15% of all households in public and community housing programs) have Indigenous status ‘not stated’, so the number of First Nations households is known to be an undercount.
Figure ASSISTANCE.1: Household composition of social housing households, by disability status and housing program, at 30 June 2022
The chart shows that households with disability in social housing are more likely to be single adult or group households than those without disability.
Notes:
- Proportions exclude households with household composition or disability status ‘not stated’.
- A household is classified as ‘with disability’ if any member of the household has disability.
- SOMIH refers to state owned and managed Indigenous housing.
Source data tables: Data tables – Housing assistance. View data tables
Main tenants of households that have at least one person with disability:
- are more likely (43% or 61,700) to be male than those without a person with disability (34% or 72,900) (where sex of main tenant is known) (AIHW 2023c)
- are more likely to be aged 45–64 and less likely to be younger or older (where age of main tenant is known) (Table ASSISTANCE.1). Note that with the exception of single-adult households, the main tenant may or may not be the person with disability.
Age of main tenant | Household with disability | Household without disability | Household disability status not stated |
---|---|---|---|
15–24 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 2.8 |
25–34 | 6.1 | 10.7 | 12.1 |
35–44 | 12.4 | 14.4 | 17.5 |
45–54 | 22.6 | 16.5 | 18.9 |
55–64 | 31.4 | 16.6 | 18.6 |
65 and over | 25.9 | 38.3 | 30.1 |
Notes:
- A household is classified as ‘with disability’ if any member of the household has disability. With the exception of single-adult households, the main tenant may or may not be the member with disability.
- 9.3% (or 37,600) of households have a household disability status of ‘not stated’.
- Per cent calculation excludes cases where age of main tenant is ‘not stated’.
Source: AIHW National Housing Assistance Data Repository; see also Table ASTN6, Data tables – Housing assistance. View data tables
Benefits of living in social housing
Data note
Data in this section are sourced from the 2021 National Social Housing Survey (NSHS). The NSHS is a biennial survey of social housing tenants. It complements administrative data collected by social housing providers and includes information on tenants and their social housing experiences.
Participants are randomly sampled from social housing programs – public housing, state owned and managed Indigenous housing and community housing.
For more information and insights from NSHS, please see National Social Housing Survey 2021 on the AIHW website.
How does NSHS define disability?
Households are said to have a person with disability if at least one member in the household always or sometimes needs assistance with self-care activities, body movement activities or communication, and the reason they need assistance is ‘long-term health condition lasting 6 months or more’ or ‘disability’.
While most households with at least one person with disability experience some benefits from living in social housing, they are less likely than households without a person with disability to have a positive experience (Table ASSISTANCE.2). For example, households that have at least one person with disability are less likely to enjoy better health and feel part of the local community; and feel less able to:
- improve their job situation
- start or continue with education and training
- have better access to services.
For information on access to services and facilities for social housing tenants, see ‘Housing-related needs’.
Benefits of living in social housing | Households with disability | Households without disability |
---|---|---|
Feel more settled | 93.1 | 96.0 |
Enjoy better health | 75.7 | 85.2 |
Feel more able to cope with life events | 84.5 | 89.9 |
Feel part of the local community | 75.3 | 84.4 |
Able to continue living in this area | 88.9 | 93.0 |
Able to manage rent/money better | 91.0 | 94.6 |
Feel more able to improve job situation | 55.3 | 72.8 |
Feel more able to start or continue education/training | 62.9 | 76.4 |
Have better access to services | 81.3 | 88.9 |
Have better access to public transport | 83.8 | 89.3 |
Notes:
- Household with disability is a household where at least one person is identified as having disability.
- Respondents could report more than one benefit of living in social housing.
Source: AIHW 2023d, Table S2.7.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2022) National Social Housing Survey 2021, AIHW, accessed 14 September 2023.
AIHW (2023a) Australian Government Housing Data Set 2022, AIHW customised data request, AIHW.
AIHW (2023b) Housing assistance in Australia, AIHW, accessed 12 September 2023.
AIHW (2023c) National Housing Assistance Data Repository, AIHW customised data request, AIHW.
DSS (Department of Social Services) (2023) Expanded DSS Benefit and Payment Recipient Demographics – June 2023, DSS, accessed 12 September 2023.
DSS (2024) Social Security Guide, version 1.314 – released 2 January 2024, DSS, accessed 2 January 2024.
NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency) (2023a) AIHW customised data request, NDIA.
NDIA (2023b) Average support category payments June 2023, Data downloads – Payments datasets, NDIA, accessed 14 September 2023.
NDIA (2023c) NDIS Quarterly Report to disability ministers 2022–23 Q4, NDIA, accessed 14 September 2023.