Social housing dwellings

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The information presented in this section provides insights into social housing dwelling stock across Australia. This includes four main programs: public housing, state owned and managed Indigenous housing or SOMIH, community housing and Indigenous community housing. The data are a snapshot on 30 June of the reference year.

Key findings

  • At June 2023, there were around 446,000 social housing dwellings in Australia.
  • There has been a gradual increase in community housing stock since 2006 while public housing stock has been declining.
  • In most states/territories, public housing was the most common type of social housing, community housing is the second largest provider of social housing.
  • Three in four public housing dwellings were in Major cities, although Indigenous-specific programs were mostly in Very remote areas.

What is a dwelling?

In this report, a dwelling is defined as a structure, or a discrete space within a structure, intended for a person or group of people to live.

Dwelling types include:

  • a separate house
  • a semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse, etc.
  • a flat, unit, apartment, or cabin, etc.

A full list of dwelling types can be found in METEOR.

For more information on how dwellings differ to households see Households.

The concept of a dwelling may be different across the social housing collections; see the Data quality statements page for more information on definitions.

Social housing dwellings

At June 2023, there were around 446,000 social housing dwellings in Australia.

At June 2023, (Table DWELLINGS.1):

  • 67% or 298,000 dwellings were public housing (PH)
  • 26% or 114,000 dwellings were community housing (CH)
  • 3.1% or 14,000 dwellings were state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH)
  • 4.3% or 19,000 dwellings were Indigenous community housing (ICH).

Changes to social housing dwellings over time

There has been a gradual increase in community housing stock since 2006 while public housing stock has been declining.

From 2006 to 2023 (Figure DWELLINGS.1; Table DWELLINGS.1):

  • The number of public housing dwellings decreased from 341,000 in 2006 to 298,000 in 2023.
  • The number of community housing dwellings increased almost four-fold, from 30,100 in 2006 to 114,000 in 2023.
  • There was a decrease in the number of Indigenous community housing dwellings from 22,200 in 2006 to 19,000 in 2023. However, the number of Indigenous community housing dwellings increased by 1,000 in the past year, from 18,000 in 2022.
  • The number of SOMIH dwellings fluctuated over the past 15 years due to stock transfers but has remained relatively stable since 2017.

There have been considerable changes to the composition of social housing stock among the four programs, see Technical notes for details.

Figure DWELLINGS.1: Dwellings by social housing program, at June 2005 to 2023

Dwellings, by social housing program, at June 2006 to 2023. This vertical stacked bar graph shows that from 2006 to 2023, public housing has consistently been the most common type of social housing. This majority has decreased over time from 84% (341,000 dwellings) in 2006 to 67% (298,000 dwellings) in 2023. The number of community housing dwellings increased from 30,100 (or 7.4%) in 2006 to 114,000 (or 26%) in 2023, and the number of SOMIH dwellings increased from 12,900 (3.2%) in 2006 to 14,000 (3.1%) in 2023. The number of Indigenous community housing dwellings decreased from 22,200 (5.5%) in 2006 to 19,000 (4.3%) in 2023.

Variation between states and territories

In most states/territories, public housing was the most common type of social housing, community housing is the second largest provider of social housing.

At June 2023, the profile of social housing varied across the states and territories (Figure DWELLINGS.2; Table DWELLINGS.2).

  • New South Wales had the highest number of public and community housing dwellings (95,800 and 53,900 dwellings, respectively).
  • For New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory, the majority of dwellings were public housing (60–87%), followed by community housing (14–34%).
  • From 2015 to 2021, Tasmania had a near equal proportion of public housing (around 51%) and community housing (around 47%) dwellings. However, due to a public housing stock transfer in 2021–22, community housing dwellings (9,700) now outnumber public housing dwellings (5,000).
  • The largest number of Northern Territory social housing dwellings were in the SOMIH program (44% or 5,600), followed by public housing (38% or 4,800 dwellings).
  • The Northern Territory had the most SOMIH dwellings of any state or territory.
  • For Indigenous community housing, New South Wales (6,500) had the largest number of dwellings, followed closely by Queensland (5,500 dwellings). The Northern Territory had the highest proportion of Indigenous community housing dwellings (15% or 1,800).

Figure DWELLINGS.2: Dwellings by social housing program by state or territory, at June 2014 to 2023

Dwellings, by social housing program, by state or territory, at June 2014 to 2023. This vertical stacked bar graph shows the variation in the number of dwellings in each social housing program (public housing, SOMIH, community housing and Indigenous community housing) across states and territories by number and per cent. In 2023, the Australian Capital Territory (87%) had the highest proportion of public housing dwellings, while Tasmania (34%) had the lowest proportion. Tasmania had the highest proportion of community housing dwellings (65%), while the Northern Territory had the lowest (4.5%) in 2023. New South Wales had the highest number of Indigenous community housing dwellings increasing from 4,700 in 2014 to 6,500 dwellings in 2023.

Location of dwellings

Three in four public housing dwellings were in Major cities, although Indigenous-specific programs were mostly in Very remote areas.

The location of social housing is an important component of the suitability of a dwelling for an occupant. Location is associated with access to amenities, employment opportunities, health services, and transportation services (AIHW 2024). For further information on the suitability of social housing in terms of location, see the National Social Housing Survey 2023: Needs of tenants – location of their home.

The location of social housing largely reflects the geographic distribution of the population of Australia, with large concentrations of people living in urban centres of both the south-east and east coasts.

At June 2023 (Table DWELLINGS.3):

  • Most of the public and community housing dwellings were in Major cities (76% and 66% of dwellings, respectively).
  • Most of the SOMIH and Indigenous community housing dwellings were in Very remote areas (33% and 47%, respectively).

What is the Australian Statistical Geography Standard?

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is a classification of Australia into a social geography to reflect the location of people and communities to assist in the publication and analysis of social, economic, and demographic statistics. The ASGS categorises the regions of Australia into a hierarchy of statistical areas and consists of ABS structures and non-ABS structures (such as local government and postal areas). For further information, see the technical notes.

Statistical Area level 4 (SA4) refers to the geographical area of sub-state regions in the main structure of the Australia Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). SA4 broadly represents the labour markets or groups of labour markets within each state and territory, with the boundaries reflecting the separation of sub-state regions by different labour markets. For the largest regional cities, including Wollongong and Townsville, SA4s broadly reflects the labour markets of the city. For outer regional and remote areas, SA4s broadly reflects the aggregation of smaller and localised labour markets that are geographically, socially, and economically similar (ABS 2021).

Across the states and territories, the number of dwellings managed by the different social housing programs varied by these sub-state regions.

In 2023, the regions with the highest number of social housing dwellings were (Figure DWELLINGS.3; Table DWELLINGS.4):

  1. Melbourne – Inner (19,100 dwellings)
  2. Sydney – Parramatta (14,000)
  3. Sydney - City and Inner South (14,000)
  4. Sydney – Inner South West (13,700)
  5. Adelaide – North (13,100)
  • The highest number of public housing dwellings were in Melbourne – Inner (14,800 dwellings)
  • The highest numbers of community housing dwellings were in The NSW region of the Hunter Valley excluding Newcastle (4,700)
  • The highest number of SOMIH dwellings were in Northern Territory – Outback (5,200)

Similarly, across Local Government Areas (LGA), Brisbane (19,100) had the highest total number of social housing dwellings, followed by the ACT (12,500), Sydney (11,000), Canterbury-Bankstown (10,400) and Blacktown (10,200) (Table DWELLINGS.5).

Figure DWELLINGS.3: Number of dwellings by social housing program Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4), at June 2023

The map shows the number of dwellings in SA4 areas of Australia in June 2023, aggregated by social housing program. Melbourne-Inner (19,100) had the highest number of social housing dwellings, most of which were public housing (14,800). The Hunter Valley excluding Newcastle in New South Wales had the highest number of community housing dwellings (4,700). The Northern Territory – Outback had the highest number of SOMIH dwellings (5,200). 

Occupancy

Occupancy rates

Occupancy describes whether a dwelling is occupied under a formal tenancy agreement. For social housing, the rate of occupancy is calculated by analysing occupied dwellings in reference to total social housing dwellings for the reference year. The occupancy rate is influenced by tenancy turnover, changes to the number of available dwellings, as well as the need for redevelopment or replacement of dwellings whereby major maintenance work needs to be completed before dwellings can be allocated to a new household.

In Australia, social housing occupancy rates have remained high year to year. At June 2023, 96% of dwellings were occupied in the public housing and community housing programs. Occupancy rates in Indigenous community housing (94%), and SOMIH (93%) were also high (Table DWELLINGS.6). The rates also remain consistent across remoteness areas (Table DWELLINGS.7).

At June 2023 (Table DWELLINGS.6):

  • For public housing, the highest occupancy rates were in Queensland (98%) and Tasmania (97%). The lowest occupancy rate was in Victoria (94%).
  • The highest occupancy rate for SOMIH was in Queensland (98%) compared with the Northern Territory (87%).
  • For community housing, the highest occupancy rate was in New South Wales (98%), whereas the lowest was in the Australian Capital Territory (86%).
  • For Indigenous Community Housing, Tasmania had the highest rate of occupancy (99%), with the lowest rate in Western Australia (87%).

Tenantable status

The tenantable status of a dwelling relates to whether a dwelling provides a certain level of basic amenity, and that maintenance is completed to the required minimum level (see also NSHS 2023: tenant satisfaction with maintenance services).

At June 2023, almost all public housing dwellings were tenantable (99% or 295,000); higher than the proportion of SOMIH (96% or 13,500) and community housing dwellings (94% or 107,000) (Table DWELLINGS.8).

Data were not available for Indigenous community housing dwellings.

Dwelling attributes

Dwelling type

Within each social housing program, dwelling types have remained stable over time.

At June 2023, most public housing dwellings were a separate house (37%), flat, unit or apartment (35%) or semi-detached, townhouse, etc. (27%).

Half of all community housing dwellings were a flat, unit or apartment (50%), followed by a separate house (29%). In comparison, the vast majority of SOMIH dwellings were a separate house (82%), followed by a relatively small proportion of semi-detached, townhouse etc. (15%). This pattern of SOMIH dwelling types likely reflects the location of dwellings and the target group (Figure DWELLINGS.4; Table DWELLINGS.9).

From June 2012 to 2023 (Figure DWELLINGS.4; Table DWELLINGS.9):

  • There was a decrease of around 19,400 separate houses in public housing.
  • The number of flat, unit or apartment type dwellings in community housing more than doubled in the past decade; from 25,600 in 2012 to 53,800 in 2023.

Figure DWELLINGS.4: Dwellings by dwelling type and social housing program, at June 2012 to 2023

Dwelling type by social housing program, at June 2012 to 2023. This figure shows a comparison of the number of dwellings by dwelling type across social housing programs from 2012 to 2023. In 2023, the most common dwelling type in both public housing (37% or 110,000) and SOMIH (82% or 11,500) were separate houses, while for community housing the most common dwelling were flats, units, or apartments (50% or 55,800). 

Number of bedrooms

At June 2023 (Figure DWELLINGS.4; Table DWELLINGS.10):

  • Public housing dwellings were most likely to have 3 bedrooms (35% or 105,000 dwellings), followed by 2 bedroom dwellings (32% or 94,500).
  • The majority of SOMIH dwellings were 3 bedroom dwellings (58% or 8,100 dwellings), with very few 1 bedroom dwellings (2.2% or 303).
  • Community housing dwellings were most commonly 2 bedroom (36% or 38,600) or 1 bedroom (33% or 36,200) dwellings.
  • Around half of Indigenous community housing dwellings were 3 bedroom dwellings (49% or 7,100) and a further 24% (or 3,500) were 4 bedroom dwellings.

Figure DWELLINGS.5: Dwellings by number of bedrooms and social housing program, at June 2012 to 2023

Number of bedrooms by social housing program, at June 2012 to 2023. This figure shows a comparison of dwellings by number of bedrooms across social housing programs. In 2023, 3 bedroom dwellings were the most common number of bedrooms for public housing (35% or 105,000), SOMIH (58% or 8,100) and Indigenous community housing (50% or 7,100). However, the most common number of bedrooms in community housing dwellings were 1 (34% or 36,200) or 2 bedrooms (36% or 38,600).

Dwellings managed by non-government providers

Community housing and Indigenous community housing dwellings are managed by non-government organisations. As a result, information from some organisations is not available (See the Data quality statements for more information).

At June 2023 there were (Table DWELLINGS.11):

  • Around 490 reporting community housing providers across Australia, a decrease from 520 providers the previous year. The majority (70% or 343) of these providers managed less than 50 dwellings.
  • Over 200 reporting Indigenous community housing providers. Nearly half of these providers managed fewer than 20 dwellings (Table DWELLINGS.11).

Glossary

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