Report on Government Services 2021

Social housing is subsidised rental housing provided by not-for-profit, non-government or government organisations to assist people who are unable to access suitable accommodation in the private rental market. Four forms of social housing are reported in this section.

Forms of social housing

• Public housing: dwellings owned (or leased) and managed by State and Territory housing authorities. It is generally accessed by people on low incomes and/or those with special needs, and aims to provide a choice of housing location, physical type and management arrangements.
• State owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH): dwellings owned and managed by State and Territory housing authorities that are allocated only to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants, including dwellings managed by government Indigenous housing agencies.
• Community housing: rental housing provided to low-to-moderate income and/or special needs households, managed by community-based organisations that lease properties from government or have received a capital or recurrent subsidy from government. Community housing organisations typically receive some form of government assistance, such as direct funding for the provision of land and property, but a number of community housing organisations are entirely self-funded. The definitions of key terms section provides further information on different models of community housing.
• Indigenous community housing (ICH): dwellings owned or leased and managed by ICH organisations and community councils. ICH models vary across jurisdictions and can also include dwellings funded, managed or registered by government. ICH organisations include community organisations such as resource agencies and land councils.

Crisis and transitional housing is another form of social housing, but is not able to be separately identified in this Report. Some crisis and transitional housing may be indirectly reported through the forms of social housing that are reported.

Social housing is funded and delivered from 1 July 2018 under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA)¹ and related Partnership Agreements between the Australian Government and State and Territory governments².

State and Territory governments have primary responsibility for delivering social housing services either directly through public housing and SOMIH or through funding community housing providers. ICH is generally managed by ICH organisations (although some ICH dwellings are managed by State and Territory housing authorities). State and Territory governments assumed responsibility for administering ICH in urban and regional areas, however arrangements varied across jurisdictions.

1. This section does not consider housing programs not provided under the NHHA (for example, those provided by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs or rental or home purchase assistance — the latter is discussed in sector overview G).
2. Services were previously funded under the National Affordable Housing Agreement and related Agreements.

State and Territory government net recurrent expenditure on social housing was $4.3 billion in 2019-20, an increase in real terms from $4.1 billion in 2018-19. In 2019-20, this expenditure included $3.2 billion for public housing and $205.9 million for SOMIH (table 18.6).

Australian Government funding for services under the NHHA was $1.6 billion in 2019‑20 (see table GA.1 in the Housing and Homelessness Sector Overview) and is included in total State and Territory government net recurrent expenditure for housing and homelessness services. State and Territory government capital (non-recurrent) expenditure for social housing was $1.4 billion in 2019-20 (table 18A.1).

As at 30 June 2020, nationally there was a total of 415 740 households and 433 990 social housing dwellings (tenancy rental units for community housing and permanent dwellings for ICH).

While the number of public housing households has decreased over the last decade (324 908 in 2011 to 289 613 in 2020), there has been an increase in the number of households in community housing, from 55 159 to 95 932 (table 18A.4). This in part reflects transfer of some public housing stock (management and/or title) to the community housing sector (table 18A.2), in line with government policy to expand the role of community housing in the provision of affordable housing. Community housing organisations are working in partnership with the Australian, State and Territory governments, and the private sector, to increase the supply of affordable housing — many new social housing dwellings are or will be owned and/or managed by community housing organisations.

Some forms of community housing also allow tenants to participate in the management of their housing. Notwithstanding their common objectives, community housing programs vary within and across jurisdictions in their administration and the types of accommodation they provide. See sub‑section 18.3 in the Housing interpretative material for details on the models of community housing.

While State and Territory governments have similar broad objectives for providing social housing, the emphasis each places on an individual objective differs depending on historical precedents and processes for interaction with community sector providers. Private housing markets also vary across jurisdictions. Accordingly, policy responses and associated forms of assistance vary across jurisdictions. It is important to consider the differing levels and types of assistance provided in each State and Territory, their differing urban, regional and remote area concentrations (tables 18A.5–7), differences in eligibility criteria for the different assistance types and factors affecting waiting lists, when analysing performance information. Some information on the context for public housing, SOMIH and community housing is provided in tables 18.1-5 in the Housing interpretative material.

Eligibility criteria for access to social housing

Eligibility criteria for social housing vary between social housing types and between jurisdictions.

• Public housing — in most cases, jurisdictions require that applicants are Australian citizens or permanent residents and do not own or partially own residential property. All jurisdictions, except Victoria, require eligible applicants to reside in the respective State or Territory. Most jurisdictions provide security of tenure after an initial probationary period and most jurisdictions have periodic reviews of eligibility (table 18.1).
• SOMIH — criteria are generally consistent with those for public housing once an applicant has been confirmed as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Terms of tenure for SOMIH are the same as those for public housing in most jurisdictions (table 18.2).
• Community housing — criteria are generally consistent with those for public housing in each jurisdiction (table 18.3).

Factors affecting waiting lists

State and Territory governments prioritise access to social housing in ways that generally reflect the urgent need to address homelessness and applicants’ inability to access appropriate private market accommodation (AIHW 2020). All states and territories have adopted social housing waiting lists that are integrated across public housing, SOMIH (where applicable) and community housing.

Waiting times for social housing are impacted by the availability of suitable dwellings. Nationally at 30 June 2020, the proportion of rental stock occupied was 97.0 per cent for public housing, 94.7 per cent for SOMIH, 95.4 per cent for community housing and 93.3 per cent for ICH (tables 18A.9–12). Occupancy rates are influenced by tenancy turnover as well as by housing supply and demand — dwellings that have, for example, reached the end of their useful life may require major redevelopment or replacement before being allocated to a new household.

‘Turnaround time’ is the number of days taken to allocate a newly vacated dwelling (that is fit for occupation) to a new household. The average turnaround time for vacant public housing and SOMIH stock varied within and across jurisdictions and over time (tables 18A.13–14) — noting that data are not comparable or complete across jurisdictions.

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2020, Housing assistance in Australia, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/housing-assistance/housing-assistance-in-australia-2020/contents/priority-groups-and-waiting-lists (accessed 7 October 2020).