Shelter Tasmania is the state's peak body for housing and homelessness services
Name of your organisation (if applicable)
Organisation
Shelter Tasmania
Please list any other organisations you have collaborated with on this submission.
Who you have consulted with
Shelter Tas has consulted with our members who include community housing providers and specialist homelessness services.
What is your submission about?
Please provide a brief summary of your submission
Topic name
Review of question 57 to capture more accurate numbers of people living in public housing, social housing managed by not-for-profit providers (community housing) and private rental.
Choose your area of interest
Please select one item
(Required)
Population
Sex and gender
Households and families
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Income and work
Unpaid work and care
Education and training
Disability and carers
Ticked
Housing
Location
Transport
Cultural diversity
Religion
Other topic
Topics on Housing
Choose one or more of the following topics that relates to your submission
Please select all that apply
Ticked
Type of tenure (nature of occupancy)
Structure and types of dwellings
Homelessness
Housing costs
Number of bedrooms
Internet access
Other/unknown
Assessment Criteria 1
1.
This topic is of current national importance.
National Importance
This topic is of current national importance. There are pressures throughout the housing system, for example, overburdened public housing supply, increased community sector management of public housing properties, strains in the affordable rental market, and increased proportion of renters rather than home purchasers. For these reasons, it is important to accurately capture and monitor trends in the social housing space.
Assessment Criteria 2
2.
There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.
For whole population
Rental tenure type is already recognised as an important Census topic, the current need is to better describe tenure types within the social and public housing space, and better distinguish social housing rental from private rental.
Data is needed across all communities, especially for capital cities where housing pressures are intense. There are also 'hot spots' where demand for affordable rental housing is increasing, for example in areas of increased short stay accommodation or other economic development. The national Census is the best place to track these trends comprehensively across diverse areas and communities.
Assessment Criteria 3
3.
The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.
Easy to answer
The data can be collected by household self reporting, but the current question design is potentially confusing for tenants.
We recommend separating 'community housing' from church group and housing cooperative. This way, continuity can be captured by combining the categories, but the changes in the balance between public and community housing will be clearer. For example, in Tasmania, 1/3 of public housing properties are now managed by community housing providers.
Assessment Criteria 4
4.
The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.
Acceptable
This topic is not likely to be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial, it is very similar to existing questions.
We think respondents will be able to answer accurately, and to assist this, there could be an information program run by social housing providers.
The specific groups in Tasmania would be people who were previously in public housing and are now in community housing (approximately 4000 households) and they could be reached by a targeted information program to clarify their census category.
Assessment Criteria 5
5.
The topic can be collected efficiently.
Collected efficiently
The variation suggested will not add difficulties for coding, and any costs would be minor.
If the approach is to separate 'community housing' from 'church group or housing cooperative', then the change would seem straightforward.
Assessment Criteria 6
6.
There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.
Continuing need
There is a need for time series data on the topic. For this reason, the change can easily be absorbed into previous category, but makes more fine-grained analysis possible.
The topic is likely to remain relevant in the future. Housing is essential for all Australians and for multiple policy areas. Affordability is likely to be a major challenge for the foreseeable future, and understanding patterns of change within the social (public and community) rental housing space will continue to be a topic of importance.
Assessment Criteria 7
7.
There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.
No alternatives
No other source provides thorough and fine-grained data about rental tenure type.