Housing is essential for a person’s health and well-being and plays a major role in the living standards of Australians. Social housing programs provide rental housing at below market rates to those who may otherwise struggle to find affordable housing. Monitoring of dwellings over time in the main social housing programs provides information for planning analysis and policy purposes.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Housing Assistance Data Repository provides important information on the supply of social housing with data on the change over time in the number of social housing dwellings and their occupancy rates by remoteness area and by state/territory.

The AIHW National Housing Assistance Data Repository includes national data on a range of housing assistance programs. Data for individual jurisdictions may not be comparable across reporting periods or with other social housing sectors. See the source data Quality Statement for important explanatory detail.

NHADR data are also used in the following dashboard menu options: Dwellings, households and household occupants, Wait lists, Suitability of social housing size, Financial assistance for housing and Dwellings and income units by Local Government Area.

See AIHW - National Housing Assistance Data Repository and AIHW - Housing Assistance in Australia for further information, including in-depth commentary and analysis and important data quality information.

Source reference Data tables: Social housing dwellings 2024, tables Dwellings.3 and Dwellings.7.