Housing assistance in Australia

Occupants in social housing

Of the 799,000 social housing occupants at June 2025 (Table OCCUPANTS.1):

• 65% (521,000 people) were in public housing
• 23% (183,000 people) were in community housing
• 6.7% (53,800 people) were in SOMIH
• 5.2% (41,300 people) were in Indigenous community housing.

State and territory

The number of occupants in each social housing program generally reflected the housing options available within the respective states and territories. In all states and territories except for Tasmania and the Northern Territory, most occupants were in public housing, followed by community housing. In Tasmania, most occupants were in community housing, while in the Northern Territory, most were living in SOMIH (Table OCCUPANTS.1). Note that Indigenous community housing occupant data were unavailable for the Northern Territory.

Age and sex of occupants

Females made up 52% of the occupants in social housing programs overall, 56% (or 290,000) of public housing occupants, 55% (or 29,800) of SOMIH occupants, and 43% (or 77,700) of community housing occupants. Among adult occupants (aged 18 and over), there were more females (59%) than males (41%) in public housing and SOMIH, although the opposite was true for community housing (41% female, 59% male). For child occupants, the proportions of males and females were similar across all housing programs (Table OCCUPANTS.1). Data were not available for Indigenous community housing.

Occupants in public housing and community housing had a similar age profile in at June 2025 (Figure OCCUPANTS.1; Table OCCUPANTS.2):

• Over one-third of occupants in public housing (38%) and community housing (36%) were aged 55 years and over.
• Around 1 in 3 occupants in both public housing (32%) and community housing (32%) were under the age of 25.

The age profile of SOMIH occupants was younger compared with public housing and community housing occupants. This may reflect the age structure of the First Nations population in general (AIHW 2024a). Almost half of the occupants (48%) were aged under 25 including about a third (28%) who were aged 0–14. In contrast, 15% were aged 55 or over (Figure OCCUPANTS.1; Table OCCUPANTS.2).

First Nations occupants in social housing

Of the 127,000 First Nations occupants at June 2025 (Table OCCUPANTS.3):

• 80,400 lived in public housing
• 46,800 lived in SOMIH.

Changes over time

The total number of First Nations occupants across public housing and SOMIH has grown since 2018. The overall growth has mainly been driven by increases in the occupants of public housing, noting that the number of occupants with an unknown Indigenous status has declined over this time.

Occupants’ satisfaction with social housing

In the 2025 National Social Housing Survey, more than 2 in 3 (68%) tenants reported that they were satisfied with the overall services provided by their social housing organisation (AIHW 2026), a decrease from 73% in 2021 (AIHW 2022). In 2025, around 80% of tenants reported economic, health and social benefits from living in social housing.

For NSHS 2021, 2023 and 2025, structural problems were a highly significant factor in tenant satisfaction. The more structural problems a tenant had with their social housing dwelling, the less likely the tenant will be satisfied. Within each housing program, tenants living in a dwelling with one or more structural problems were less likely to be satisfied than those without.

More information about the analyses and occupants’ satisfaction with amenities, locations and services as well as the economic, health and social benefits of social housing, can be found in the National Social Housing Survey 2025.