Social housing is affordable rental housing provided to households with low incomes. Social housing includes public housing, community housing and Aboriginal housing. This New South Wales (NSW) audit assessed whether social housing is effectively and efficiently prioritised to meet the needs of vulnerable households, and whether social housing tenants are effectively supported to establish and sustain their tenancies. 

The audit concluded that the process to apply for a social housing property is inefficient and inequitable. The application process requests substantial amounts of evidence to determine whether an applicant is a priority. Some applicants are supported by external agencies to collect this evidence while others cannot access support.

Key findings

• In NSW, there are around 156,000 social housing dwellings.
• The demand for social housing significantly outstrips availability.
• There is low turnover and long waiting times to access housing.
• In June 2024, the median waiting time for newly housed priority applicants was 3.5 months and the median waiting time for general applicants was 20.1 months.

Recommendations

1. Simplify the social housing application process.
2. Review and improve the allocation and offer process.
3. Regularly monitor and report on the use of manual allocations.
4. Clearly articulate the role of Homes NSW as a social housing landlord.
5. Align key data sets between the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and community housing providers.