National social housing survey 2023

Housing amenities are vitally important to improving social housing tenants’ standard of living. Many amenities such as thermal comfort, security, and modifications and fixtures for tenants with special needs as well as the overall quality of the property have been demonstrated to contribute to tenants’ health and wellbeing (Rolfe et al. 2020). 

Measuring the extent to which tenants had their need for amenities met provides an insight into which amenities tenants had the greatest need for and which amenities tenants were most satisfied with.

Amenities met the needs of most tenants in 2023

The majority of tenants reported that most of the features (that is, amenities) in their homes met the needs of their household (Figure Amenities.1, Table S3.1). 

Although the rate of amenity needs met was high overall in 2023, there was variation between states and territories and housing programs and over time (Figure Amenities.1, Table S3.1). Nationally in 2023:

• the most commonly met amenity needs of public housing tenants were ease of access and entry (92%), access to outdoor space (91%), number of bedrooms and water efficiency (both 89%); the least commonly met amenity needs were outdoor storage (64%), thermal comfort (68%) and indoor storage (70%). 
• among community housing tenants, the most commonly met amenity needs were ease of access and entry (95%), access to an outdoor space (93%) and water efficiency (92%); outdoor storage (64%), indoor storage (77%) and energy efficiency (77%) were the least met needs.
• the most commonly met amenity needs of SOMIH tenants were ease of access and entry (96%), access to an outdoor space (94%) and car parking (93%); outdoor storage (63%), indoor storage (69%) and thermal comfort (71%) were the least met needs.

‘Housing has provided me with a brand new 2 bedroom apartment with a lift and carpark, they have been quite supportive with their community inclusion programs and maintenance.’

‘Overall I'm satisfied with the level of maintenance usually – now after 4 years of asking for a shed/storage we still have not received any. One of our bedrooms (which was supposed to be our son’s) is our storage room.’

Figure Amenities.1: Social housing tenants – needs met for an amenity (%), by social housing program, states and territories, 2023

Are housing amenities meeting the needs of priority groups?

‘Even though an Occupational Therapist’s report has been forwarded to housing with recommendations to provide a railing so I can get outside my back yard, the step off the backdoor is too deep for me to exit this. Housing knows and has been made aware that I can’t exit my rear back door and I'm on Disability Support Pension and I'm also receiving NDIS for at least 2 years and still nothing has been done.’

‘They came quickly to repair the window. I’ve got taps that haven't been fixed. We've had to fix our taps many times ourselves. The screens have not been fixed. We've never had a door handle. It's ridiculous.’

‘I'm dissatisfied as we don't have a maintenance person for any emergency or non-emergency repairs. We have had to temporarily fix things while waiting for repairs to be done. We also don't have any privacy in the backyard due to the fence being lower than regular and have multiple people invading our privacy.’

In 2023 (Figure Amenities.2, Table S3.7) among tenants of all social housing programs:

• Indigenous households’ needs were met less often than non-Indigenous households for most amenities, in particular, safety/security of home (70% compared with 81%, respectively), indoor storage (63% compared with 73%) and thermal comfort (63% compared with 72%) (Table S3.2). 
• Tenant needs were less likely to be met among households with disability for all surveyed amenities compared with households without a person with disability, in particular, structural modifications for special needs (68% compared with 80% respectively), energy efficiency (66% compared with 76%), thermal comfort (63% compared with 73%) and safety/security of home (71% compared with 81%) (Table S3.3).
• Among tenants who had experienced homelessness in the last 5 years, a lower proportion reported that their needs were met across most amenities compared with other tenant groups, in particular, outdoor storage, privacy of home and number of bedrooms, privacy of the home and size of living spaces (Table S3.4).
• Tenants living in households with children less commonly reported their needs were met across all amenities compared with those living in households without children, in particular, indoor storage (52% compared with 76% respectively), thermal comfort (54% compared with 74%) and number of bedrooms (75% compared with 92%) (Table S3.5).

‘I'm satisfied and dissatisfied. Firstly Housing was lovely with this apartment and my last rental property as they were very helpful with moving in, great friendly environment/ neighbours and regularly maintained in common areas. I’m very dissatisfied that I have lived here for 10 months with my 2 children and I haven't yet received my storage area in the basement.’

Figure Amenities.2: Social housing tenants – needs met for an amenity (%), by priority group, 2023