Community housing in Australia is not-for-profit affordable housing provided by community housing organisations known as Community Housing Providers (CHPs). It is part of the social housing sector. CHPs have varying modes of operation and structure, and different types of stock. Any budget surplus in CHPs must be used to maintain existing housing, to provide better services for tenants or to help finance new properties. Although independent, the CHPs are regulated by the state, and commonly receive public funding. Most of their stock is owned by public housing authorities (SHAs) in each State, and the CHPs manage the tenancies using the rent received from tenants.
Community housing expanded from the 1990s in Australia, because of inadequate funding for public housing, and because it was geared around delivering housing to people with complex needs who required support services. In 2020, 103,900 dwellings were under community housing management, or 24% of the social housing stock.
The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) is the peak body representing all CHPs. It provides national advocacy and representation. The State branches of CHIA conduct training and networking activities for housing and associated service workers.
Overview
Community housing is a diverse sector in Australia. Stock under management has more than tripled from 2006, mostly due to transfers from public housing.
About 370 organisations are registered nationally, of which 42 are Tier 1, operating at scale. In 2020 they managed 104,000 properties, about 24% of all social housing. The tenants are, as with public housing, overwhelmingly recipients of social security benefits, and the majority have complex needs. New South Wales has almost half of all community tenancies.
Models for community housing are quite varied. The main categories of CHP by purpose are:
Community Housing Associations (CHAs). These manage housing for very low income people and build a portfolio of dwellings where clients can be permanently housed. Some cater to specialised client groups: for example, women’s housing or indigenous housing. Homelessness organisations. These provide temporary assistance or crisis housing for those at risk of homelessness. They maintain a relatively small housing stock, but may be large organisations in terms of budget and number of employees (for example, Launch Housing is the largest CHP in Victoria). Some are divisions within larger religious charities (for example Baptcare and VincentCare). Housing co-operatives. These are managed by member tenants and provide an option that encourages autonomy and self management.
Affordable housing is a sector related to community housing, but has more generous eligibility criteria and provide housing at 80% to 90% of market rents to moderate income people. Most of these organisations arose out of the NRAS scheme.
The top ten CHAs in terms of number of properties managed at 30 June 2021 are listed in the table.
Sources are the 2020–21 Annual Reports of these organisations, and of other larger CHAs.
This table includes all CHAs with more than 2,500 properties under management in 2020-2021. Taken together, these ten Associations manage more than 55,000 properties, over half the CHP stock. Only three CHAs operate in more than one State. The two largest, CHL and Home in Place, also operate abroad.
The proportion of the stock actually owned by the CHAs (which can be used as security for borrowing), varies, but the largest association, CHL, is typical with about 20% of their stock owned. The other properties are owned by State and Territory governments and managed by the CHAs.
There were 17,400 indigenous community housing dwellings in Australia in 2020, more than half of all indigenous social housing. The largest indigenous CHA, Aboriginal Housing, manages about 1,500 dwellings in Victoria, but most indigenous CHPs are very small.
Governance
In Australia, the term "housing association" refers to larger, growth-oriented 'not-for-dividend' community-housing providers, mostly companies with an unpaid Board. Smaller CHPs may have trust or cooperative structures.
CHPs are strongly regulated to protect tenants, to safeguard public funds and to ensure they remain solvent.
Meeting stringent governance requirements requires a significant effort in larger associations, with hundreds of program requirements to be met. These restrictions limit active management of the stock, as most properties are held under covenants from public housing authorities and cannot be sold.