News release

From: Curtin University

Social housing the key to protecting low-income renters, study finds

Low-income renters in Australia are far less likely to experience housing stress, rent arrears, or be forced to relocate, when living in social housing compared to those receiving cash rent assistance payments or no assistance, according to a new global study by Curtin University.

The research analysed data from 2001-2020, tracking housing outcomes for more than 9200 low-income renters in Australia and almost 15,000 in the United Kingdom, comparing how different rental support schemes affected housing security.

It found low-income Australian renters were 7.3 percentage points less likely to face housing stress when they moved into social housing and were less likely to fall behind on rent, compared with renters receiving no assistance.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) however was not found to significantly reduce housing stress or rent arrears, despite being the main form of rental support for private renters in Australia.

Social housing also greatly reduced the risk of forced moves such as eviction or loss of housing, while rent assistance offered little protection.

Lead author Dr Jack Hewton from Curtin Business School said the findings challenged policy reliance on cash payments such as CRA.

“Our results show social housing provides much stronger and more reliable protection against housing stress and instability than rent assistance paid in cash,” Dr Hewton said.

“In Australia, social housing rents are tightly linked to income, which means affordability adjusts automatically when people’s circumstances change.

“That protection simply doesn’t exist to the same extent in the private rental market.”

Co-author Dr Ranjodh Singh, also from Curtin Business School, said the limited impact of cash assistance reflected long-standing structural problems.

“Rent assistance has not kept pace with rising rents and a large share of low-income renters in housing stress don’t qualify under current rules,” Dr Singh said.

“When support is paid into lightly regulated private rental markets, much of its value can be absorbed by rent increases rather than improving stability for tenants.”

The study found similar patterns in the UK, with social housing tenants less likely to experience housing stress by 3.1 percentage points compared to those not receiving any assistance, though protections were generally weaker than in Australia due to differences in rent-setting rules.

Co-author John Curtin Distinguished Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ said the findings highlighted the need to strengthen social housing supply while reforming rent assistance and private rental regulation, to improve housing security for the growing number of vulnerable Australians.

“Australia is facing a deepening housing crisis: between 2011 and 2021, homelessness increased by 20 per cent” Professor ViforJ said.

“If governments are serious about reducing housing stress and instability, this research shows social housing remains a critical part of the solution.”

“Cash assistance alone cannot compensate for high rents, insecure tenancies and weak regulation in the private rental sector.”

The effects of subsidies and regulatory contexts on precarious housing among low-income renters: A cross-national comparison was published in Housing Studies.