Housing assistance in Australia

In Australia, the suitability of a household’s dwelling size is commonly measured using the Canadian National Occupancy Standard (CNOS). Broadly, the CNOS measures suitability based on whether a dwelling has enough bedrooms for the size and composition of a household (see criteria below).

This section uses CNOS to provide information on how suitable social housing dwellings were for households living in social housing on 30 June of the reference year. It includes information about households living in the four main social housing programs in Australia.

Although CNOS is useful for indicating overcrowding in dwellings, it does not necessarily reflect a household’s experience of overcrowding. This is because CNOS does not consider cultural differences in living and sleeping arrangements (Dockery et al. 2022). As such, its classification of overcrowding may not necessarily match the experiences of First Nations and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse households.

Dwelling suitability

Most households (79%) were living in suitable or adequate dwellings, a further 15% lived in underutilised dwellings (Figure SUITABILITY.1; Table SUITABILITY.1).

Overcrowding

A dwelling is considered overcrowded if it requires at least 1 additional bedroom, based on the size and composition of the household. In 2024, 5.6% (or 22,600) of social housing households were overcrowded. However, the level of overcrowding differed across the various social housing programs. Around 4.7% of households in public housing (13,200) and 3.7% of community housing households (3,800) were living in overcrowded dwellings, consistent with long term trends (Table SUITABILITY.1, Figure SUITABILITY.1). See the Social housing dwellings and the technical notes section for further information on the stock changes between the housing programs.

For SOMIH, around 1 in 4 (24% or 3,600) households were living in overcrowded dwellings (Figure SUITABILITY.1; Table SUITABILITY.1). This proportion has remained stable since 2018, after 5,000 remote public housing dwellings were added to the Northern Territory SOMIH data collection in 2017.

In Indigenous community housing, about 1 in 6 (16% or 1,900) households were in overcrowded dwellings.

Key characteristics of overcrowded households, at June 2024 (Table SUITABILITY.4):

• Over half of the overcrowded households in public housing (56% or 7,400) and SOMIH (57% or 2,000) had a main tenant aged 35 to 54 years. 
• For public housing, overcrowded households were mostly households with a mixed composition (7,300 or 55%) or sole parents with dependent children (3,500 or 27%). 
• Almost 4 in 5 (78%) overcrowded dwellings in SOMIH were mixed composition (2,800 households).

Demographic data on dwelling suitability were not available for community housing or Indigenous community housing.

Location of overcrowded households

Overcrowding in dwellings varied across the states and territories and remoteness areas.

At June 2024 (Figure SUITABILITY.1; Tables SUITABILITY.1 and 2):

• The Northern Territory had the highest proportion (9.2% or 405) of public housing households living in overcrowded dwellings however, Victoria had the highest number (3,700 or 6.1%). 

• Northern Territory had the highest number (2,600) and proportion (51%) of SOMIH households living in overcrowded dwellings, noting that the Northern Territory also has the highest total number of SOMIH households.
• Tasmania had the highest proportion (4.4%) of community housing households living in overcrowded dwellings, New South Wales had the highest number (2,000 or 4.2%).
• The highest number of overcrowded public housing households (9,200 or 4.3%) were in Major cities, but the proportion was highest in Very remote areas (9.8% or 235). 
• For SOMIH, Very remote areas had the highest number and highest proportion (2,000 or 47%) of households living in overcrowded dwellings.

Overcrowding data by remoteness were not available for community housing.

Overcrowding in First Nations households

In public housing, 9.9% of all First Nations households were living in overcrowded dwellings while only 4.7% of all households were living in overcrowded dwellings. Similarly in community housing, 9.5% of all First Nations households lived in overcrowded dwellings compared with 4.5% of all households (Table SUITABILITY.2).

Underutilisation

A dwelling is underutilised when it contains 2 or more bedrooms surplus to the household requirements. In 2024, around 15% (or 60,800) social housing households were underutilised (Figure SUITABILITY.1; Table SUITABILITY.1). Underutilisation differed across the programs.

About 47,100 (or 17%) public housing households and 11,300 (or 11%) community housing households were living in underutilised dwellings. SOMIH had the highest proportion of underutilised dwellings across the programs (25% or 2,400).

Underutilisation data were not available for the Northern Territory for SOMIH, community housing or Indigenous community housing.

Characteristics of underutilised households at June 2024 include (Table SUITABILITY.4):

• Around 29% (or 13,400) of public housing households in underutilised dwellings were receiving the age pension.
• Almost three-quarters of public housing households in underutilised dwellings had a main tenant aged 55 years or older. 
• Within SOMIH, 58% (1,400 households) had a main tenant who was 55 years old or over. 

Most underutilised dwellings in public housing (74%) and SOMIH (63%) were single adult households. 

Location of underutilised households

The proportion of households in underutilised dwellings varied by state and territory and by remoteness area across the social housing programs. At June 2024 (Figure SUITABILITY.1; Tables SUITABILITY.1 and 3):

• South Australia had the highest proportion of social housing households living in underutilised dwellings (23% or 10,300 households), while New South Wales (21,600 or 15%) had the highest number of households. 

• About 1 in 5 public housing households in Inner regional (18%) and Outer regional (20%) areas lived in underutilised dwellings, though the highest number was in Major cities (34,400 households or 16%). 
• For SOMIH, Major cities had the highest number (1,200) and highest proportion (27%) of households living in underutilised dwellings.