Western Australian Alliance to End Homelessness Dashboard

Addressing underlying drivers of homelessness in WA

Target 4

The underlying causes that result in people becoming homeless have been met head-on, resulting in a reduction by more than half in the inflow of people and families into homelessness in any one year

The causes of homelessness are complex, encompassing a broad range of individual and structural determinants, including housing availability and affordability, economic and employment opportunities (or lack thereof), physical and mental health outcomes, domestic and family violence, and social and community connections.

Housing affordability

Table 4.1. Housing affordability statistics and trends

Indicators	Most current values	Trend over time
Proportion experiencing household stress in Perth (2017 - 2020)¹	10.7%	Increasing
Proportion of low-income rental households spending more than 30 per cent of their gross income on housing costs (2019-2020)²	Perth - 36.7% Rest of state – 26.2%	Decreasing
Proportion of low income households remaining in housing stress from one year to the next (2017-2020)¹	Australia – 48.3%	Increasing
Housing affordability (2019-2020)²	Owner – 2.9%	Stable
	Owner with a mortgage – 14.0%	Decreasing
	Renter – private landlord – 17.4%	Stable
	Renter – state of territory housing – 20.9%	Decreasing
Home ownership (2019-2020)²	Owner without a mortgage – 26.6%	Decreasing
	Owner with a mortgage – 42.7%	Stable
	Renter – private landlord – 22.5%	Decreasing
	Renter – state of territory housing – 2.8%	Increasing
Rental affordability index (Q2, 2020)³	Perth – Extremely unaffordable	Decreasing
Rental affordability index (Q2, 2020)³	Rest of Western Australia – Extremely unaffordable	Decreasing
¹The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey: General Release 20, 2022 ²ABS 4130.0 – Housing Occupancy and Costs, 2019-20 ³Rental Affordability Index, SGS Economics & Planning.

Housing supply

Table 4.2. Housing supply statistics and trends

Indicators	Most current values	Trend over time
Number of social housing dwellings (2021)¹	Indigenous community housing – 2,699	Decreasing
	Community housing – 7,997	Stable
	Public housing - 31,919	Decreasing
Number of applicants on waiting list (2021)¹	14,619	Stable
Waiting time to secure public housing accommodation (2020)²	Average – 94 weeks	Stable
Waiting time to secure public housing accommodation (2020)²	Median – 48 weeks	Stable
¹AIHW Housing assistance in Australia 2021 ²Government of Western Australia Department of Communities, Housing Authority Annual Report 2019-20

Figure 4.7 indicates that the number of public housing dwellings has remained unchanged since 2011 which has not kept pace with the growth in households. This is evident by the long waiting times for households in need of public housing.

The number of applicants on the public housing waiting list has remained stable from 2018 through to 2020, then increasing in more recent years (Figure 4.8).

The average number of weeks to secure public housing has been increasing since 2020 (Figure 4.9).