Housing assistance

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Housing affordability Drivers for people seeking housing assistance Scope of available housing assistance

Housing affordability

Access to affordable housing is important for good health and wellbeing (Bentley et al. 2025). Affordable housing generally refers to housing that meets the needs of households, priced so that alongside the costs of housing, people are able meet their basic living costs, such as paying for food, heating, and medical care. 

Finding and securing affordable housing in Australia has become difficult, and the most vulnerable households are facing the largest impact of rising housing costs (NHSAC 2026; ABS 2026). Since 2015, rental affordability has decreased across most capital cities, as rental cost growth outpaced household income growth (Cotality 2026; SGS Economics 2025; NHSAC 2026). Over the 12 months to December 2025, actual rents increased by 3.9%; slowing from a 6.2% increase in the year to December 2024 (ABS 2026). In December 2025, the national median rent reached $681 per week, up $204 since 2020 and rental vacancy rates fell to 1.7%, below the pre-pandemic average of 3.3% (Cotality 2026). In the December 2025 quarter, the time it would take a median‑income household to save for a 20 per cent deposit rose to 11.2 years, compared to 9.0 years in 2015 (NHSAC 2026).

Low-income households are at an increased risk of financial stress due to the disproportionate share of their income spent on housing (SGS Economics 2025). With limited income, a greater proportion of the household budget is spent on housing, leaving less for emergencies and essentials including food, transport, utilities, health and childcare services. In 2025, rents in most Australian capital cities were considered unaffordable for many low-income household types (SGS Economics 2025). In 2024–25, an estimated 1.26 million low-income households were in housing stress, spending more than 30% of their disposable income on housing (AIHW 2025).

Housing assistance programs can provide households in need with affordable and appropriate housing, or with the means to afford appropriate housing in the private market. By receiving housing assistance, low-income households can achieve greater financial and housing stability. The support provided to these households can also lead to greater social and economic participation, and as a result, improve personal wellbeing and social cohesion (Bridge et al. 2007; Carnemolla and Skinner 2021).

For more information on housing stress, see Housing affordability and Home ownership and housing tenure.

Drivers for people seeking housing assistance

Many circumstances or changes can contribute to the need for people to seek housing assistance. Understanding these drivers, and the influence of critical life events, and housing market factors on households can assist in defining housing stress, an early indicator of household need for housing support. Identifying housing stress can inform interventionist approaches to housing assistance provision and policy (Ghasri et al. 2022).

Housing stress occurs when households pay a high proportion of their income on housing costs. Usually this definition applies to low-income households.

Critical life events can lead to major change in a person’s life. These may include family formation or breakdown, providing care to a family member, loss of a family member, natural disasters, or change of employment. Multiple intersecting critical life events may put significant financial pressure on a household’s ability to manage their housing and living costs.

Housing market factors are the specific arrangement of conditions in the private housing market that impact housing options, and are influenced by:

  • taxation 
  • regulation 
  • supply
  • availability 
  • low vacancy rates 
  • rising private market rental costs, and 
  • cost of living pressures such as inflation, interest rates, and energy costs (Ghasri et al. 2022; Stone et al. 2016).

In response to housing insecurity and housing affordability challenges, households may need to use contingency resources (such as savings, assets, skills, or social networks) to ensure that they can sustain access to housing. However, low-income households often lack the contingency resources to respond to negative impacts arising from critical life events or housing market factors, leading them to seek housing assistance (Ghasri et al. 2022).

Figure 1: Drivers of housing stress


Scope of available housing assistance

The housing programs and assistance explored throughout this report include:

  • social housing, owned and managed by government and non-government organisations, including:
    • public housing (PH)
    • state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH)
    • community housing (CH) 
    • Indigenous community housing (ICH)
  • financial assistance given to tenants to meet private rental costs, including:
    • Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA)
    • Private Rent Assistance (PRA)
  • financial assistance with home purchase, including:
    • Home Purchase Assistance (HPA).

This report does not cover the provision of services such as obtaining accommodation or sustaining tenancies provided by specialist homelessness services. For information relating to homelessness services see Homelessness services.

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