This document outlines the data available in the 2004-05 public rental housing and state owned and managed Indigenous housing national minimum data set (NMDS) developed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). It sets out the technical specifications and major conventions for handling data (e.g. codes, business rules, data relationships and formats). It attempts to ensure that users of the NMDS will interpret and analyse data items consistently with the National housing assistance data dictionary version 2 (NHADDv2), which sets out the agreed data definitions, classifications and standards for information collected under the Commonwealth–State Housing Agreement (CSHA).