Housing Need Dashboard City Futures Research Centre

About these maps

Households with low incomes - defined here as those in the bottom two quintiles of households by income and those experiencing homelessness - face significant housing pressures across Australia. These maps show the estimated number of households that were not living in appropriate housing on census night in 2021. These Australians were either experiencing homelessness, including severely overcrowded homes, or spending over 30% of their income on rent.

The colour code indicates the estimated proportion of all households whose needs are not currently being met by the housing market, and do not have access to targeted non-market housing. Note that, because enumerated homeless populations are not included in household counts, it is possible for unmet need to exceed the number of existing households, and so exceed 100%.

Selecting (clicking on) a region will show:

the number of households with unmet needs on census night;
the origin of the unmet need – specifically, whether they are in the lowest or second lowest household income quintile, or ‘manifest need’ stemming from enumerated homelessness;
the existing social and affordable housing stock, as a proportion of need for such housing (existing tenants and unmet housing needs);
projected future need by 2041, based on overall projected household growth for the region; and
an estimate of the growth in social and affordable housing that would be required to meet these needs by 2041, both in terms of relative growth of existing stock, and an average annual net new stock.

For Statistical Area 4 boundaries, selecting a region also shows:

the composition of unmet need – specifically singles, couples (including other adult groups), and families with children, again alongside ‘manifest need’; and
the change from a comparable estimate from the 2016 census counts.

For full details on the method and some key findings in the project reports, visit the project website.

UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia

UNSW CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G

ABN: 57 195 873 179

Follow us on:

City Futures Research Centre is located on the unceded coastal land of the Bidjigal people of the Eora Nation. City Futures Research Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners and pays respect to Elders past and present. City Futures Research Centre recognises that First Nations people are a living part of the oldest continuous existing culture on earth and have been stewards of the natural environment upon which we now learn and work.