Glossary
Definitions of housing used by Homes Tasmania.
There is a complex mix of housing support offered in Tasmania.
- Crisis accommodation and support: Available for people in a housing crisis. It can include a shelter placement, brokered accommodation in a hotel, motel or caravan park or an overnight bed in a Safe Space facility.
- Social housing: A type of affordable and secure rental housing for Tasmanians on low incomes provided independently or with support. Social housing is properties provided for independent living by either Homes Tasmania or community housing providers. Social housing includes supported accommodation, specialist disability accommodation, public housing, community housing and Aboriginal housing.
- Affordable housing: Housing assistance aimed at low to moderate income earners. Affordable housing in Tasmania includes the categories of affordable private rentals, affordable home ownership and affordable land.
Coming soon: TasCOSS will unpack ‘affordable housing’ and ask whether it meets the needs of low income Tasmanians.
Types of affordable housing in Tasmania.
Affordable housing is talked about a lot, but what actually is it? And what makes it affordable?
- Affordable private rentals are rental properties offered at reduced market rates to low income earners with low or no support needs. In Tasmania, this includes the Private Rental Incentives Program and the Family Violence Rapid Rehousing Program, which provide incentives to private landlords to rent their homes out for an affordable rent for Tasmanians on low incomes or affected by family violence.
- Affordable home ownership includes the MyHome Shared Equity Program delivered by the Bank of Us, which entails home buyers sharing the cost of buying their home with Homes Tasmania and requires only a 2% deposit. This category also includes the sale of former Homes Tasmania properties on the open market.
- Affordable land consists of residential land lots (without a dwelling on them) which the Tasmanian Government has released for sale. TasCOSS understands that land lots are sold at market prices rather than discounted prices.
To be eligible to apply for social housing, a person must live in Tasmania, be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, aged 16 years or older, on a low income, not own land or a home and have few financial assets.
Eligible applicants are assessed on four circumstances:
- Affordability — how much rent an applicant and their household is currently paying.
- Homelessness — where they are living and their security of tenure.
- Safety — whether living safe from harm and violence.
- Health and mobility — the impact of their physical and mental health on achieving and sustaining private tenancy.
Applicants are prioritised according to three categories:
- Highest priority — people in the highest need, including those leaving homelessness services, prison, hospital or out-of-home care.
- Standard priority — people with other high needs based on health, homelessness, safety and affordability.
- General — in need, based on health, homelessness and affordability.
‘Priority applicants’ are applicants in the first two categories (i.e. ‘highest priority’ and ‘standard priority.’
The number of people on the waitlist and the number of applicants on the waitlist are different measures. An applicant may have applied for social housing for only themselves or on behalf of other people in their household or family, including children. Therefore, the number of people on the waitlist is expected to be higher than the number of applications on the waitlist.
Homes Tasmania defines people’s living situation in three ways:
- Homeless: Applicants who are without accommodation (such as sleeping rough).
- Temporary housing: Includes applicants who may be staying with family or friends or in a shelter or brokered accommodation, or they have received a notice to vacate from their rental home.
- Secure housing: Refers to applicants who may be unsafe at home, or their property is not appropriate to their needs, or they are living in a caravan park.
The Australian Institute of Health & Welfare (AIHW) defines homelessness more broadly to include people living in short-term or emergency accommodation as well as those without any accommodation.
In the AIHW’s definition, a person is homeless if they are living in either:
- Non-conventional accommodation or ‘sleeping rough;’ or
- Short-term or emergency accommodation due to a lack of other options.
Non-conventional accommodation is defined as:
- Living on the streets;
- Sleeping in parks;
- Squatting;
- Staying in cars or railway carriages;
- Living in improvised dwellings; or
- Living in ‘the long grass’.
Short-term or emergency accommodation, includes:
- Refuges;
- Crisis shelters;
- Couch surfing or no tenure;
- Living temporarily with friends and relatives;
- Insecure accommodation on a short-term basis; and
- Emergency accommodation arranged by a specialist homelessness agency (e.g. in hotels, motels, etc).