Australian state and federal governments spend a large amount of money on providing housing assistance to Australian households. This housing assistance takes a variety of forms. It includes the provision of public housing, subsidies for low-income renters in the private sector and various forms of assistance for homeownership. An improved housing outcome for the recipient provides an explicit rationale for much of this recipient based assistance. In addition to directly influencing housing outcomes, housing assistance programs also have significant non-shelter effects. The keys areas in which housing assistance programs may influence non-shelter outcomes include physical and mental health, education status, labour market outcomes, crime, community participation and social cohesion, income andwealth distribution and poverty outcomes, and locational advantage. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic review of the evidence on the non-shelter effects of housing assistance measures.