People with disability in Australia

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.

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).

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

Notes:

1. Proportions exclude households with household composition or disability status ‘not stated’.
2. A household is classified as ‘with disability’ if any member of the household has disability.
3. 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.

Notes:

1. 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.
2. 9.3% (or 37,600) of households have a household disability status of ‘not stated’.
3. 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

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’.

Notes:

1. Household with disability is a household where at least one person is identified as having disability.
2. Respondents could report more than one benefit of living in social housing.

Source: AIHW 2023d, Table S2.7.