Social housing explained Place Forecast Feature

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Social housing shows how many homes in an area are let by a housing authority or a not-for-profit provider, and which group of programs runs them. Each figure is the count at 30 June of the year.

There are two groups:

  • Public housing and SOMIH, run by a state or territory housing authority. SOMIH is state owned and managed Indigenous housing. It is counted with public housing, since both are let by a housing authority. Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory have no SOMIH program.
  • Community housing, run by a not-for-profit provider.

The figures come from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). It counts the homes from the records of the housing authorities and the providers. It gives a total for each council, each year from 2021. It splits the homes by program only for each SA4, a larger region of the state.

So Place Forecast splits each council's total by its SA4's mix of programs that year. Then it shares each group across the council's mesh blocks. It uses the 2021 Census to see where households renting from a housing authority or from a community housing provider live. So a small area's figures are estimates. From year to year each group moves with the council's figure for that group.

The percentage divides by the private dwellings the 2021 Census counted, so areas of different size compare fairly.

Reading this data fairly

  • A council is taken to have its SA4's mix of programs. Its own mix may differ.
  • The AIHW counts homes, empty ones too. The Census counts the households renting them on Census night. So the two figures differ. Landlord type shows the Census count.
  • Indigenous community housing, run by community organisations, is counted for whole states only. So it is not in these figures. Where those organisations run many homes, mostly in remote areas, a council's figure can be well below the social housing it has.
  • The AIHW places each home in a council by its postcode. A home close to a council boundary can be counted next door.
  • A count of homes is not a measure of need. Waiting lists are one measure of need, and the AIHW publishes them for whole states only.

Sources

Related data pages
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