National social housing survey 2023

What is 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. In recent times, social housing has increasingly been provided to those in ‘greatest need’ relative to others on the waitlist, for example, those experiencing homelessness, family or domestic violence, or those with disability or special needs. For more information see the Entries, exits and transfers and Supply of social housing sections of Housing assistance in Australia.

In 2021–22, there were almost 816,000 people living in over 442,500 social housing dwellings across Australia. The 3 social housing programs appearing in this report are public housing, state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH) and community housing (Figure Intro.1). 

For more information on demographics of people in social housing, see the Occupants and Households sections of Housing assistance in Australia.

Figure Intro.1: People living in public housing, community housing and SOMIH; Australia, 2021–22

The importance of housing for health and wellbeing

Research has consistently found that housing is a key determining factor in living a healthy life. The provision of housing services, and tenant experiences with the condition of their property and aspects of their neighbourhood, have been shown to closely relate to measures of health and wellbeing (Rolfe et al. 2020; Alidoust and Huang 2021). Further, studies have highlighted the important role that social housing plays in protecting against homelessness (Taylor et al. 2023), which is widely known to have a significant impact on mental and physical health (Baxter et al. 2019).  

Housing quality relates to the physical characteristics of a home such as its structure, facilities, and amenities, as well as the standard of the social and physical environment of where it is situated (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 2020). Housing conditions influence various aspects of health, including mental and physical health, and respiratory and cardiovascular disease risk. For example, living in a cold, mouldy and damp home can increase the risk of respiratory diseases (Wimalasena et al. 2021). Living in persistently inadequate housing is associated with worsening mental health (Pevalin et al. 2017; Singh et al. 2019). 

Housing location relates to the environmental characteristics affecting the lifestyle and experiences afforded to tenants, such as their access to transport, shops, and friends and family. As such, it can affect people’s wellbeing and lives. For example, housing location can affect who they can socialise with, where they can work, what schools they can attend and which services they can reasonably access (Ong et al. 2022; Paddison et al. 2012; Phibbs and Thompson 2011). There is also strong research on the link between neighbourhood and health, with aspects such as neighbourhood noise, crime and violence, and environmental hazards being linked to negative health effects (Rolfe and Garnham 2020). 

In this way, housing can have a substantial impact on health and wellbeing through domains such as education, income, social/community engagement, exposure to disease, access to healthcare, neighbourhood factors and overall life experiences (Clapham et al. 2017).

For more information on housing and wellbeing indicators, such as affordability, see Australia’s welfare indicators. 

About the National social housing survey 2023

The National social housing survey (NSHS) is the largest social housing study conducted in Australia and complements other data on social housing in Australia, that is, administrative data collected by social housing providers and reported in Housing assistance in Australia. NSHS data are nationally consistent and largely comparable over time, noting that some survey items have varied across the different waves. For further information see the NSHS Data Quality Statement. 

The key objective of the NSHS is to gain insights into the lived experiences of social housing tenants and their satisfaction with housing service providers, amenities, and maintenance services, as well as other perceived benefits of living in social housing. The NSHS offers tenants’ perspectives on social housing to allow for a more person-centred approach to the Australian social housing experience. The findings on the lived experiences of social housing tenants assist in understanding tenant needs and whether housing policy objectives are being fulfilled.

Social housing households from all states and territories were sampled in the NSHS. Information on the housing programs covered in each state and territory is outlined in Table Intro.1. 

Table Intro.1: Coverage and scope of social housing programs, states and territories, NSHS 2023

Y      yes
N     no
. .     not applicable

The 2023 NSHS is the most recent in a series of surveys of social housing tenants and was administered between April and August 2023. The previous NSHS was undertaken in 2021 and while the NSHS is ordinarily undertaken every 2 years, the 2020 survey was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, the coverage of the NSHS was expanded to include ICH tenants in Queensland for the first time. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICH was not collected for the 2021 wave. ICH tenants in Queensland were again included in the sample for 2023. 

Lonergan Research administered and conducted the survey on behalf of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Social housing tenants were randomly selected based on the demographic characteristics of each program by state. Participating tenants completed the survey either on paper, online, face-to-face or over the telephone. Please refer to related materials for further information.

Additional questions were incorporated in 2023 about neighbours and their impact on tenant satisfaction. More detail is provided in the neighbours and wellbeing section of this report. 

Information on the number of survey responses received for each social housing program is outlined in the box below, with more information in the supplementary tables.

Understanding tenant satisfaction statistics

The key findings from the 2023 NSHS are presented in this report. The descriptive statistics presented are proportions (per cent) obtained by applying weights to the NSHS sample responses. That is, not every social housing household was surveyed so statistical methods (weighting) were used to ensure that estimates best represent all tenants in social housing. 

Results of logistic regression analyses are also presented to provide an insight into the factors most closely associated with tenant satisfaction. Regression analysis is a statistical technique used to explore the relationships between factors (or variables) and an outcome.

In some instances, where appropriate, the results from 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021 are used for comparison. More detailed data are available in the supplementary data tables. More information on the NSHS statistical methodology (such as sampling and weighting), is provided in the technical notes. 

Are observed differences statistically significant and what does that mean in this report?

Throughout this report, data are presented that have been tested for statistical significance. To test this, it is assumed that there will be no difference between 2 groups. A significance test is conducted to determine if there is evidence of a difference in the characteristic being tested. If evidence is found, we say that there is a statistically significant difference. 

Significance is affected by the number of people sampled. When there is a large enough number of people in a sample, even very small differences can be statistically significant, whereas large differences can be missed when a small number of people are sampled.

Readers are encouraged to consult the confidence limits data tables when interpreting differences in estimates between populations or over time. A confidence limit is a statistical term describing the range of values that covers the true population value with a known confidence. The confidence level used in this report is 95%.