It is for me?

Who Is Community Housing For?

All kinds of households can apply for community housing, including:

- families
- single people
- young people
- older people
- people with special needs
- Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders
- people of non-English-speaking backgrounds

You need to be eligible for community housing. This means your income and other matters will be assessed by the community housing organisation before you can be given a place on the waiting list. You will also have to have applied for public housing (the Department of Housing) and been accepted.

Even if you are on the Department of Housing waiting list, you will also have to apply to the community housing organisation of your choice.

Some people with slightly higher incomes may be eligible for Affordable Housing programs run by some community housing organisations.
 

What’s the difference from public housing?

The main difference is that it is managed by a local organisation with strong links to other local services.

Because it is an independent not-for-profit organisation, it is not managed by government.  But it is still accountable to government for how it houses its tenants.

Because community housing organisations try to be particularly responsive to local needs and tenant needs, there will often be tenants on its board or providing advice. 

Another difference is that although you will be charged a higher rent than in public housing you will receive the full difference back through Commonwealth Rent Assistance. This means you will need to apply for Rent Assistance when you begin your tenancy.

What does it cost?

In most cases your rent will be less than in the private market. However, once you have received Rent Assistance you will have the same amount of income left to spend as most public housing tenants, that is, 75% of your gross household income (household income before tax).

What choices are there?

There are three main types of community housing: 
Housing associations; housing co-operatives; and church based housing.

Housing Associations are non-profit organisations that manage Government-owned housing for you. They also manage houses that are not owned by the Government but you would need to apply directly to a housing association for these. The housing is managed by employees of the housing association (for example, you would see one of these employees about repairs).

Housing Co-operatives are also non-profit organisations - you still pay a similar rent, you still live in your own separate household.. The difference is that all the managing of the co-operative - repairs, selecting tenants, organising payment of rent - is done by the tenants themselves. This gives you a lot more say in how the housing is run but you also need to take more responsibility. Many co-operatives have been set up to meet the needs of particular social and ethnic communities.

Church run agencies provide housing with added Church resource.

Housing Associations, Housing Co-operatives and church based community housing  offer many forms of housing, such as flats, townhouses, small houses (villas) and large houses. As a community housing tenant, you might be living near other community housing tenants (for example on an estate or smaller cluster of houses) or in a single rented property.

How do I find out more?

- Your local community housing association (see Directory)
- Your local Housing NSW office