Household—greatest need status

Guide for use:

A low income household for the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement (CSHA) greatest need definition is a household who satisfies an eligibility test to receive CSHA funded program assistance.

1. Homeless:

Note - the definition of 'homeless' used in this item is the same as that which appears at Homeless status - CSHA.

2. People whose life or safety was at risk in their accommodation:

This includes situations where people were:

• Subject to domestic violence; or
• subject to sexual/emotional abuse; or
• subject to child abuse; or
• at risk of violence or who feared for their safety in the home environment.

Violence is defined as any incident involving the occurrence, attempt or threat of either physical or sexual assault. Physical assault involves the use of physical force with the intent to harm or frighten a person. The threat to harm should only be included if it is believed the harm is likely to be carried out. Sexual assault includes acts of a sexual nature against a person's will through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, or any attempts to do this.

3. People whose health condition was aggravated by their accommodation:

It includes people who lived in the following situations:

• Medical condition or disability which rendered their housing unsuitable (e.g. disabled person who required modified accommodation, elderly persons who were housebound due to mobility problems in highset dwellings);
• appropriate housing stock was either not available, or not available at an affordable cost, in the private rental market (e.g. dwellings with appropriate modifications for a person with a disability);
• a health condition or disability which was caused or exacerbated by the living situation.

4. People whose housing was inappropriate to their needs:

This category captures housing situations that indicate a person did not have access to safe and secure housing at the time of allocation and these situations are not included in categories 1 to 3 above (people with housing affordability issues are captured in category 5). Inappropriate housing includes persons who:

• lived in poor housing locations that resulted in isolation from community services, social networks and support systems, and these services and supports were necessary to maintain independent living. This category includes families that were divided due to their housing situation; or
• lived in overcrowded situations where an additional two bedrooms was required for adequate housing according to the proxy occupancy standard; or
• were unable to access accommodation in the private rental market due to discrimination. Discrimination refers to a person who was treated unfairly because they belonged to a particular group of people. Types of discrimination include: sex; race; age; marital status; sexual orientation; or disability (Anti-discrimination Board); or
• lived in situations where their tenure was insecure and they had received an eviction notice (either written or verbal) and they had no access to adequate legislative protection; or
• lived in housing that had severe structural or other maintenance problems (e.g. property had been declared unfit for human habitation, severe dampness, lacked essential facilities such as cooking or bathroom).

5. People with very high rental costs:

This category identifies households that paid 41% or more of their income in rent at the time of housing allocation. This definition is not intended to suggest that households paying between 30-41% of income on rent live in affordable housing situations. The definition aims to capture the group of the population who experience the more severe end of housing affordability problems and the group for which literature suggests are least able to decrease their housing costs (Department of Family and Community Services 2001:63).

Context:
This metadata item is used to measure the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement 'Priority access to those in greatest need' (P6) national standard. The purpose of this indicator is to measure the effectiveness of housing authorities allocation of housing to households in greatest need ahead of households with less housing needs.