Housing assistance
The Australian, and state and territory governments provide a range of assistance to eligible Australians having difficulty with finding or sustaining affordable and appropriate housing in the private housing market. Housing assistance refers to both access to social housing (such as public housing), and targeted financial assistance.
Housing affordability
Access to affordable housing is critical to wellbeing. Affordable housing refers to housing that is appropriate for the needs of low to moderate income 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.
In recent times, finding and securing affordable housing in Australia has been difficult for many low-income households (ABS 2024). 2023 saw the longest continuous stretch of rising advertised rents and the highest rents on record (ABS 2024, Domain 2023, SQM Research 2024).
High cost housing can make it difficult for low income households to meet basic living costs. A household’s budget may be adversely affected, leaving less to spend on food, transport, utilities, health and childcare services. Saving for emergencies may also be reduced (Anacker, 2019).
In 2019–20, approximately 619,000 low-income households in private dwellings were in rental stress, spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. More than two-thirds (67%) of these households were in capital cities (ABS 2022a).
Housing assistance can provide households in need with affordable and appropriate housing, or with the means to afford appropriate housing. By receiving housing assistance, low-income households can achieve greater financial flexibility and housing stability (Anglicare Australia 2019). The support provided to these households can also lead to greater social and economic participation, and as a result, improve 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 (AIHW 2023a; 2023b).
Low income households
A low income household is defined as a household with equivalised disposable income falling between 3rd to 20th percentile of households. Equivalised disposable household income accounts for differences in household sizes and composition (ABS 2022b).
Drivers for people seeking housing assistance
A variety of drivers – circumstances or changes, can contribute to the probability of households seeking 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, and can form part of interventionist approaches to housing assistance provision and policy (Ghasri et al 2022).
Housing stress is described by researchers, governments, and policy makers as households that are paying a high portion of their income on housing.
Critical life events are events that lead to major change in a person’s life. These factors can involve family formation or breakdown, providing care to a family member, or loss of employment. Multiple intersecting critical life events may also 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 choices, and are influenced by taxation, regulation, supply, and availability. Additionally, other factors related to housing affordability include low vacancy rates, rising private market rental costs, and cost of living pressures such as inflation, interest rates, and energy costs may impact on housing stress (Ghasri et al 2022; Stone et al 2016).
In response to housing insecurity and housing affordability challenges, households may need to access 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 additional resources to insure against or respond to any negative impacts arising from critical life events or housing market factors, leading them to seek housing assistance (Ghasri et al 2022).
Figure 1: Factors impacting housing stress
Scope of available housing assistance packages
The different 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)
The report does not cover the provision of services such as obtaining accommodation or sustaining tenancies provided by Specialist Homelessness Services. For information relating to these specific homelessness services (see AIHW 2023c).
Definitions of housing assistance programs
Social housing
Social housing is low cost or subsidised rental housing provided to eligible Australians by government or non-government (including not-for-profit) organisations (AIHW 2022b).
- Public housing: Rental housing managed by all state and territory housing authorities. This includes dwellings that are owned by the housing authority or leased from the private sector or other housing program areas and used to provide public rental housing or leased to public housing tenants. Public housing can be accessed by non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and permanent residents on low incomes and/or with greatest and/or special needs.
- Community housing: Housing managed by community-based organisations, available to low to moderate income or special needs households. Community housing models vary across states and territories, and the housing stock may be owned by a variety of groups including government. Community housing can be accessed by non-Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Australians, and permanent residents.
- State owned and managed Indigenous housing: Housing that state and territory governments provide and manage. It is available to households that have at least one member who identifies as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. Eligibility criteria for these households include low income, special needs, or greatest need.
- Indigenous community housing: Any community housing that is owned or managed by an Indigenous Community Housing Organisation (ICHO). These organisations may either directly manage the dwellings they own or sublease tenancy management services to the relevant state/territory housing authority or another organisation. Services include managing tenancy arrangements, collecting rent, providing subsidised rent and performing housing maintenance. This type of housing is made available to households with at least one Indigenous member (NIAA 2024).
Financial assistance with rental costs
- Commonwealth Rent Assistance: This is a payment provided by the Australian government to eligible families and individuals who pay or are liable to pay private rent or community housing rent. Commonwealth Rent Assistance is paid at 75 cents for every dollar above a minimum rental threshold until a maximum rate (or ceiling) is reached. The minimum threshold and maximum rates vary according to the household or family situation, including the number of children (DSS 2023).
- Private Rent Assistance: This is financial assistance administered by each state and territory government. It provides a range of financial assistance to low-income households experiencing difficulty with securing or maintaining private rental accommodation. Private Rent Assistance is usually provided as a one-off form of support – such as bond loans and rental grants – but may also include ongoing rental subsidies and payment of relocation expenses.
Financial assistance with home purchase
- Home Purchase Assistance: This is a form of government financial assistance administered by each state and territory. It provides a range of financial assistance to eligible households to improve their access to, and maintain, home ownership. Home Purchase Assistance may vary by state and territory, as some products are only offered within certain states and territories.
Government assistance for home ownership
There are various forms of Australian and state-territory government assistance and programs to support people into home ownership. Australian Government initiatives are briefly described below; however, they are not the focus of this report.
Several schemes to support people in buying a home are managed by Housing Australia on behalf of the Australian Government (Housing Australia 2024).
- The First Home Guarantee (FHBG) Scheme is an initiative to support first home buyers get into home ownership sooner. Under the FHBG, part of the home loan is guaranteed by the Commonwealth, through Housing Australia. This enables participants to buy a home with as little as 5% deposit and without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance.
- The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) is an initiative to support first home buyers get into home ownership sooner, in a regional area. Under the RFHBG, part of the home loan is guaranteed by the Commonwealth, through Housing Australia. This enables participants to buy a home with as little as 5% deposit and without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance.
- The Family Home Guarantee (FHG) is an initiative to support single parents or legal guardians with at least one dependent to buy a home sooner. The parent/guardian may be a first homebuyer or have owned a home previously. Under the FHG, part of the home loan is guaranteed by the Commonwealth, through Housing Australia. This enables participants to buy a home with as little as 2% deposit and without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance.
- The new Commonwealth Help to Buy program will assist low to middle income earners into home ownership using shared equity. Legislation to establish the program is before the Senate, as at July 2024. Once legislation has passed, it will be managed by Housing Australia.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) was introduced by the Australian Government in the 2017–18 Budget. The FHSSS supports first homebuyers who meet the eligibility criteria to save money for a house deposit using their superannuation fund. Those who are eligible can voluntarily contribute up to $15,000 in any one financial year, and $50,000 in total under the scheme. They receive the tax benefit of saving through their superannuation contribution arrangements. In September 2024, amendments will be applied to the current scheme. These amendments will allow greater flexibility for first homebuyers (ATO 2024).
The Indigenous Home Ownership Program supports Indigenous Australians into affordable, appropriate, and secure housing. The program aims to address barriers to home ownership by providing access to knowledge, skills and networks to support home buyers and owners (IBA 2023).
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funds Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) for NDIS participants with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs, when deemed necessary and reasonable. SDA funding is used to stimulate investment in the building of new dwellings for NDIS participants (NDIS 2022).
The First Home Owner Grant scheme, introduced nationally on 1 July 2000, is funded by the state and territory governments, and administered under their legislation. A one-off grant is payable to first homeowners who apply and satisfy eligibility criteria. Additional schemes may also be in place in states/territories, such as first home buyer exemptions from some transfer duties (Australian Government 2024).
Some of these national assistance schemes can be used in conjunction with one another and/or state and territory first homeowner grants and stamp duty concessions.