We provide a range of housing products and services to help Queenslanders find and keep safe, secure and affordable housing, whether it’s in the private rental market, home-ownership or in social housing. In Queensland, social housing refers to both public housing and community housing.
We will work with you to help you understand the housing help and support you may be eligible for and how to apply.
We understand that unexpected events, such as experiencing domestic and family violence or family breakdown, serious illness or a death within the family, or loss of employment or increased rents in the private market can affect the safety or stability of your home.
Your safety comes first. If you are not safe at home, or you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, we will prioritise giving you the information and help you need to support you into safe accommodation.
To find out more:
We will help you access the right housing options based on your situation and needs. Public housing and community housing properties are in demand and, when available, are offered to people with the highest level of need. If you are not eligible for public and community housing, there are other ways we can help.
To best support you, we need to understand:
Once we have a deeper understanding of your circumstances and housing and support needs, we can help you make informed choices about the housing services that will match your needs.
If you are being helped by other support agencies and if you consent, we will work with them to build a tailored housing and support option that works for you.
We have a range of products and services to support you to achieve safe and stable housing. You may need one or more services to meet your needs. We can help you make informed choices about the services to apply for.
Select the situation that applies to you or what you need help with to see assistance options.
Help is available for people who don’t have safe, stable housing, including people who are couch-surfing:
If you are experiencing domestic, family and/or sexual violence, support is available:
If you need help to get into housing in the private rental market, these services are available:
If you’re a tenant in a private rental, but are having trouble paying rent or keeping the tenancy for other reasons, these services may help:
If you’re finding it difficult to live in your current home due to illness or you want to downsize, support is available:
If we have worked with you to explore all housing support options and you are still without suitable housing in the private market, you may be eligible for public housing or community housing.
Continue reading this guide to find out more.
Help is available for people who don’t have safe, stable housing, including people who are couch-surfing:
If you are experiencing domestic, family and/or sexual violence, support is available:
If you need help to get into housing in the private rental market, these services are available:
If you’re a tenant in a private rental, but are having trouble paying rent or keeping the tenancy for other reasons, these services may help:
If you’re finding it difficult to live in your current home due to illness or you want to downsize, support is available:
To ensure that both public housing and community housing are used by those in highest need, we apply an eligibility test.
Being eligible does not guarantee that you will be offered a home. People with more urgent and complex needs are offered housing assistance ahead of people with less complex needs.
If you're not eligible for public and community housing, we'll help you understand how to access other housing products and services that might meet your needs.
To be eligible for public and community housing, you must:
You must also prove your identity.
If you want to live in a remote and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, you must also:
Read on for details about each eligibility criteria that you and the people listed on your application must meet.
You (the person signing the application for social housing and who would become the legal tenant) must live in Queensland.
We may make an exception if you live in a border area or are applying from another Australian state or territory and can prove that you have a definite need to move to Queensland.
Other exceptions may apply—talk to your nearest Housing Service Centre.
You (the person signing the application and who would become the legal tenant) need to either:
If you've applied for permanent residency, a Permanent Protection Visa or a Resolution of Status Visa, you can apply for housing assistance. However, you won't be considered for an offer of public and community housing until your residency is resolved.
You and all the people listed on your application must not own or part-own property in Australia or overseas, including:
Some exceptions may apply, such as:
If you own property, talk to your nearest Housing Service Centre about your housing needs, as you might still be eligible.
When added together, the liquid assets owned by you and all the people listed on your application must not equal more than these limits:
Liquid assets include but are not limited to:
Some assets aren't included, such as vehicles, home contents and collectibles.
We want to understand how your current housing situation affects your wellbeing to make sure people with more urgent and complex needs are offered housing assistance.
We consider:
To be eligible, you must have:
You must have at least 1 acceptable reason to need to move from your current home.
These are some examples of a reason to need to move:
You must have at least 2 complex wellbeing needs (i.e. things that make it hard for you to have your housing needs met through other housing options).
These are some examples of complex wellbeing needs:
You must have 1 financial need. We assess whether your financial situation makes it hard for your housing needs to be met through other housing options.
These are some examples:
To find out whether a payment you receive is included when we assess your household income, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre.
You need to show evidence of the total income for you and all the people in your household before any deductions such as tax and superannuation are taken out (i.e. gross income).
We don’t include some income types when we assess a household's income, such as certain Centrelink payments. To find out whether a payment you receive is included when we assess your household income, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre.
To be eligible for public and community housing, your household's total gross weekly assessable income must be less than the income limits, based on the number of people in your household. See the table below:
Household members | Household weekly gross Income limit (must be this amount or less) |
|---|---|
Single person, no children | $609 |
Single person with 1 child | $755 |
Single person with 2 children | $877 |
Single person with 3 or more children | $999 |
2 single people | $755 |
2 single people and 1 child | $877 |
2 single people with 2 children | $999 |
3 single people | $877 |
3 single people and 1 child | $999 |
4 single people | $999 |
5 single people | $1121 |
Couple with no children | $755 |
Couple with 1 child | $877 |
Couple and 1 single person | $877 |
Couple with 2 children | $999 |
Couple with 3 or more children | $1121 |
Couple with 1 single person and 2 or more children | $1121 |
Couple with 2 children and 1 single person | $1121 |
2 couples with 1 or more children | $1121 |
Other households with 5 or more people including at least 2 adults | $1121 |
We assess whether the income you receive is enough to pay rent and financially manage a tenancy. At least 1 applicant who will sign the tenancy agreement must receive an independent income.
To be eligible:
If any household member has no income, has a very low income or can’t identify or verify their income, we will assess them as having the income of their equivalent Centrelink payment (i.e. the payment that would match their circumstances even if they don't qualify for that payment).
The equivalent Centrelink payment is based on:
If you hold a Temporary Protection Visa or are in a correctional facility, and don't yet have an independent income, you can apply for social housing. If you’re eligible, we’ll add you to the housing register but won’t consider you for an offer of housing until you receive income.
Before you apply for public housing and community housing, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre to discuss your eligibility and housing needs:
We will talk to you about:
If you’re eligible, we'll also ask you:
To apply, complete an application form and provide evidence of:
Sign the form in front of one of these witnesses:
The witness will need to see 2 proof-of-identity documents. You can also sign your application and provide your identity documents at a Housing Service Centre.
If your circumstances change after you apply, you must tell your local Housing Service Centre about the changes within 28 days.
The Housing Service Centre can give you advice and support, and help you with your application.
If you receive a pension or allowance from Services Australia (Centrelink) and are at least 15 years old, you can use the income confirmation service.
This free service lets us access your income and assets information directly from Centrelink. This means you don’t have to provide proof of your Centrelink income each time we assess your eligibility.
If you or a household member earns other income, such as wages, you still need to provide proof of this income to us before we can assess your application.
To sign up for this service:
You can also get the form from your nearest Housing Service Centre.
Once you're signed up for the service, we send your details to Centrelink electronically. Centrelink sends us information that’s on your Centrelink income and asset statement, including:
We use the information that Centrelink sends us only to assess your eligibility for housing assistance.
We will ask you for information about other income if required.
You can withdraw from the service any time by contacting your nearest Housing Service Centre.
If you choose not to use this service, you’ll need to provide your income and assets information each time we ask for it.
Failing to provide this information will affect your eligibility for social housing.
Income support payments:
Earned income (wages, salaries, casual, overtime, bonuses and fringe benefits):
Self-employment:
Other income types:
If you or a household member owns or part-owns any of these property types in Australia or overseas, you must provide evidence of ownership with your housing assistance application:
Evidence of property ownership includes:
Your evidence of ownership must include:
Liquid assets include:
You must provide evidence of all liquid assets that you and your household own. This could include:
For more information and help with providing evidence to support your application, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre.
You must lodge 2 original and valid (not expired) proof-of-identification documents with your application.
At least 1 of the documents must be a primary identification document.
If you can't provide any primary identification, provide 2 forms of secondary identification.
Note: An 'incorporated' organisation is an organisation set up as a legal entity (i.e. a 'corporation' or 'company'). It can be a private or public business, non-profit organisation, sports club or government organisation.
If you have a medical condition or disability that affects your housing needs, you need to provide information about this with your application. This helps us work with you to find a housing option that's appropriate for you and your household’s disability and medical needs.
Provide information about:
If the physical amenity of your current housing doesn't meet your needs, you can provide:
If your current housing lacks essential facilities or shared facilities, you can provide confirmation from a relevant community or support agency that the living conditions are inappropriate due to a lack of essential facilities.
These may include:
If your current housing has health and safety issues (i.e. structural condition or size of property), you can provide:
If you need to move, you must provide evidence of the reason.
If your current housing isn't located near essential services or transport, provide information that explains:
This information should be provided by:
If your current housing doesn't enable access to/custody of child, shared care of child or foster care arrangements, you should provide:
If you have safety concerns, please talk to us by contacting a Housing Service Centre in person or over the phone.
If your current housing is far from family, social and community connections, provide an affidavit or statutory declaration from a family member or informal support provider that confirms:
If your current housing is far from your current education or training location, provide details from the registered education or training provider confirming:
If the location of your current housing prevents you accepting an employment offer, provide information from the employer, recruitment agency or government agency about the need to move. (The employment must be at least 20 hours per week.)
If your job needs you to transfer to another location, provide information from your employer confirming that you need to transfer to another work location to maintain your employment.
If your family is split across more than one location and you need appropriate housing, provide:
If you need to move for cultural reasons, provide information that explains the circumstances. This information may be from:
If you spend 30% or more of your income on rent, provide evidence of the rent you currently pay. This can include:
If you or a household member is experiencing domestic and family or sexual violence, contact us to talk about your situation.
Tell us if you need to leave your current housing immediately, and we'll connect you to support services.
You don’t need to provide evidence of your safety needs, but please tell us if you have any of these documents, as it helps us understand your needs:
We will complete our assessment once you've given us
We will tell you in writing whether you’re eligible for public and community housing.
If you are eligible, we'll ask you about the kind of home you need as part of your application.
You can choose which of the following types of housing you want to apply for.
The type of housing you may be offered, if you’re eligible, depends on what's available in your chosen areas and the number of bedrooms your household is entitled to.
Detached house – a house with 2 or more bedrooms on 1 block of land
Duplex – usually 2 units, with 1–3 bedrooms in each, divided by a common wall, on 1 block of land
Dual occupancy – 2 properties on 1 block of land
Cluster house – several attached or separate homes, with 2–4 bedrooms in each, within a housing development
Townhouse – 3 or more units next to each other, with 1–4 bedrooms in each, divided by common walls
Apartment / flat / unit – usually a complex of 2 or more storeys, with 1–3 bedrooms in each
Seniors’ unit – for people over the age of 55, usually in a complex of 1–2 storeys, with 1–2 bedrooms in each
We will work out how many bedrooms your household is entitled to based on the number, age and gender of the people in your household.
These are the bedroom entitlements:
Bedrooms | People |
|---|---|
1 bedroom |
|
2 bedrooms |
|
3 bedrooms |
|
4 bedrooms |
|
5 bedrooms (reviewable property) |
|
6 bedrooms (reviewable property) |
|
7 bedrooms (reviewable property) |
|
Seniors’ unit |
|
You can ask for housing with fewer bedrooms to increase your chance of getting a property sooner. However, we first need to agree that serious overcrowding won't occur.
To make this request, complete an Acceptance of smaller housing form and take it to your nearest Housing Service Centre.
If you request and are offered the smaller housing, you won't be able to transfer to larger housing unless there are special circumstances.
If there are any changes to your household or housing need, you must tell us within 28 days.
We review your eligibility and housing need again while you're on the housing register and before we may consider you for an offer of housing.
You should also talk to your nearest Housing Service Centre if a household member needs an extra bedroom for:
Note: Housing offers will depend on the availability of housing in your chosen areas and the number of people ahead of you on the housing register with higher needs.
Your guardian, administrator, informal guardian, informal administrator or support person can help you with your application.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) makes decisions about the personal, health or financial affairs of an adult with impaired decision-making capacity.
QCAT may appoint a formal guardian or administrator to help the adult with decisions. The adult can have more than one guardian or administrator making decisions on their behalf. QCAT will clearly explain the decision-making powers that the guardian or administrator has.
A guardian or administrator:
Formal guardians or administrators must complete a formal guardian and/or administrator details form and attach a copy of QCAT’s order.
If we need to contact your guardian or administrator, we need to have their contact details and know what decisions they can make. We won't contact a guardian or administrator about your decisions unless they complete this form.
Informal guardians or administrators must complete an informal decision-maker details form and return it to the nearest Housing Service Centre. We won't contact your informal guardian or administrator about your decisions unless they complete this form.
Your nearest Housing Service Centre also has these forms.
If you receive a pension or allowance from Services Australia (Centrelink) and are at least 15 years old, you can use the income confirmation service.
This free service lets us access your income and assets information directly from Centrelink. This means you don’t have to provide proof of your Centrelink income each time we assess your eligibility.
If you or a household member earns other income, such as wages, you still need to provide proof of this income to us before we can assess your application.
To sign up for this service:
You can also get the form from your nearest Housing Service Centre.
Once you're signed up for the service, we send your details to Centrelink electronically. Centrelink sends us information that’s on your Centrelink income and asset statement, including:
We use the information that Centrelink sends us only to assess your eligibility for housing assistance.
We will ask you for information about other income if required.
You can withdraw from the service any time by contacting your nearest Housing Service Centre.
If you choose not to use this service, you’ll need to provide your income and assets information each time we ask for it.
Failing to provide this information will affect your eligibility for social housing.
Income support payments:
Earned income (wages, salaries, casual, overtime, bonuses and fringe benefits):
Self-employment:
Other income types:
If you or a household member owns or part-owns any of these property types in Australia or overseas, you must provide evidence of ownership with your housing assistance application:
Evidence of property ownership includes:
Your evidence of ownership must include:
Liquid assets include:
You must provide evidence of all liquid assets that you and your household own. This could include:
For more information and help with providing evidence to support your application, contact your nearest Housing Service Centre.
You must lodge 2 original and valid (not expired) proof-of-identification documents with your application.
At least 1 of the documents must be a primary identification document.
If you can't provide any primary identification, provide 2 forms of secondary identification.
Note: An 'incorporated' organisation is an organisation set up as a legal entity (i.e. a 'corporation' or 'company'). It can be a private or public business, non-profit organisation, sports club or government organisation.
If you have a medical condition or disability that affects your housing needs, you need to provide information about this with your application. This helps us work with you to find a housing option that's appropriate for you and your household’s disability and medical needs.
Provide information about:
If the physical amenity of your current housing doesn't meet your needs, you can provide:
If your current housing lacks essential facilities or shared facilities, you can provide confirmation from a relevant community or support agency that the living conditions are inappropriate due to a lack of essential facilities.
These may include:
If your current housing has health and safety issues (i.e. structural condition or size of property), you can provide:
If you need to move, you must provide evidence of the reason.
If your current housing isn't located near essential services or transport, provide information that explains:
This information should be provided by:
If your current housing doesn't enable access to/custody of child, shared care of child or foster care arrangements, you should provide:
If you have safety concerns, please talk to us by contacting a Housing Service Centre in person or over the phone.
If your current housing is far from family, social and community connections, provide an affidavit or statutory declaration from a family member or informal support provider that confirms:
If your current housing is far from your current education or training location, provide details from the registered education or training provider confirming:
If the location of your current housing prevents you accepting an employment offer, provide information from the employer, recruitment agency or government agency about the need to move. (The employment must be at least 20 hours per week.)
If your job needs you to transfer to another location, provide information from your employer confirming that you need to transfer to another work location to maintain your employment.
If your family is split across more than one location and you need appropriate housing, provide:
If you need to move for cultural reasons, provide information that explains the circumstances. This information may be from:
If you spend 30% or more of your income on rent, provide evidence of the rent you currently pay. This can include:
If you or a household member is experiencing domestic and family or sexual violence, contact us to talk about your situation.
Tell us if you need to leave your current housing immediately, and we'll connect you to support services.
You don’t need to provide evidence of your safety needs, but please tell us if you have any of these documents, as it helps us understand your needs:
You can choose which of the following types of housing you want to apply for.
The type of housing you may be offered, if you’re eligible, depends on what's available in your chosen areas and the number of bedrooms your household is entitled to.
Detached house – a house with 2 or more bedrooms on 1 block of land
Duplex – usually 2 units, with 1–3 bedrooms in each, divided by a common wall, on 1 block of land
Dual occupancy – 2 properties on 1 block of land
Cluster house – several attached or separate homes, with 2–4 bedrooms in each, within a housing development
Townhouse – 3 or more units next to each other, with 1–4 bedrooms in each, divided by common walls
Apartment / flat / unit – usually a complex of 2 or more storeys, with 1–3 bedrooms in each
Seniors’ unit – for people over the age of 55, usually in a complex of 1–2 storeys, with 1–2 bedrooms in each
We will work out how many bedrooms your household is entitled to based on the number, age and gender of the people in your household.
These are the bedroom entitlements:
Bedrooms | People |
|---|---|
1 bedroom |
|
2 bedrooms |
|
3 bedrooms |
|
4 bedrooms |
|
5 bedrooms (reviewable property) |
|
6 bedrooms (reviewable property) |
|
7 bedrooms (reviewable property) |
|
Seniors’ unit |
|
You can ask for housing with fewer bedrooms to increase your chance of getting a property sooner. However, we first need to agree that serious overcrowding won't occur.
To make this request, complete an Acceptance of smaller housing form and take it to your nearest Housing Service Centre.
If you request and are offered the smaller housing, you won't be able to transfer to larger housing unless there are special circumstances.
If there are any changes to your household or housing need, you must tell us within 28 days.
We review your eligibility and housing need again while you're on the housing register and before we may consider you for an offer of housing.
You should also talk to your nearest Housing Service Centre if a household member needs an extra bedroom for:
Note: Housing offers will depend on the availability of housing in your chosen areas and the number of people ahead of you on the housing register with higher needs.
Your guardian, administrator, informal guardian, informal administrator or support person can help you with your application.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) makes decisions about the personal, health or financial affairs of an adult with impaired decision-making capacity.
QCAT may appoint a formal guardian or administrator to help the adult with decisions. The adult can have more than one guardian or administrator making decisions on their behalf. QCAT will clearly explain the decision-making powers that the guardian or administrator has.
A guardian or administrator:
Formal guardians or administrators must complete a formal guardian and/or administrator details form and attach a copy of QCAT’s order.
If we need to contact your guardian or administrator, we need to have their contact details and know what decisions they can make. We won't contact a guardian or administrator about your decisions unless they complete this form.
Informal guardians or administrators must complete an informal decision-maker details form and return it to the nearest Housing Service Centre. We won't contact your informal guardian or administrator about your decisions unless they complete this form.
Your nearest Housing Service Centre also has these forms.
Get help with interpreting or translations.
We assess applications for housing against the eligibility criteria for public housing and community housing. This helps us provide housing to people with the highest needs who can’t access safe and stable housing.
We consider your eligibility and housing needs and any exceptional circumstances:
After we’ve assessed your eligibility, we’ll look at your needs to see whether public and community housing or other products and services provide an appropriate outcome. Before making a decision, we will also consider the impacts of the decision on you and your circumstances and human rights.
If you aren’t eligible, we will send you a letter about our decision, including information about your review rights if you don’t agree with our decision.
There are other ways we can help you with your housing needs. We will work with you and other service providers to get you the support you need.
If you're eligible for public and community housing, you will be placed on the housing register. If you can accept an offer of housing, your application will be made active and if you are not in a position to accept an offer of housing, your application will be made inactive. You will receive a letter to confirm this.
The housing register is a record of eligible applications for public and community housing.
You will be on the housing register for reasons including:
Depending on your circumstances, you may not receive an offer of housing for a long time, or at all. People with more urgent and complex needs are offered housing assistance ahead of people with less complex needs. This includes when a person’s safety and wellbeing is at risk or the person is homeless or living in unsafe housing.
We can’t predict if or when offers of public or community housing will be made. Offers of housing are affected by:
If we don't offer you housing, we can still help you—you can talk with us about other housing options while you are on the housing register.
It’s important you respond to us when we contact you. You must keep your contact details with us up to date.
We may contact you by phone, email, SMS or by sending you a letter to check:
We understand that you may not be ready to be considered for an offer due to unplanned circumstances. We can talk to you about your circumstances and can make your application inactive on the housing register until you are ready.
If you don’t respond to our phone calls or letters within the timeframe we give you, we may remove your application from the housing register.
Changes in your household may affect your eligibility and need for public and community housing. It is important to keep your information with us up to date. You must tell us within 28 days about any changes to:
Contact your nearest Housing Service Centre to talk about your circumstances and housing needs.
Note: It is an offence under the Housing Act 2003 to knowingly provide false or misleading information that may influence decisions about your eligibility for housing services.
We will review your eligibility and circumstances while you’re on the housing register so we can work with you to find the right housing options.
It’s important that you respond to any contact we make, otherwise we may remove your application from the housing register.
If your circumstances change, you may no longer be eligible for public and community housing. If you are no longer eligible, we will remove your application from the housing register and work with you to find other housing products and services which may help meet your needs.
Tell us if you’re going away for more than 28 days. This is so we don’t remove your housing application from the housing register if you don’t respond to our letters or phone calls during the time you’re away.
Tell us if you no longer need housing assistance so we can remove your application from the housing register. Contact your nearest Housing Service Centre to talk about your housing needs and they can help you find other housing assistance options if needed.
It’s important you respond to us when we contact you. You must keep your contact details with us up to date.
We may contact you by phone, email, SMS or by sending you a letter to check:
We understand that you may not be ready to be considered for an offer due to unplanned circumstances. We can talk to you about your circumstances and can make your application inactive on the housing register until you are ready.
If you don’t respond to our phone calls or letters within the timeframe we give you, we may remove your application from the housing register.
Changes in your household may affect your eligibility and need for public and community housing. It is important to keep your information with us up to date. You must tell us within 28 days about any changes to:
Contact your nearest Housing Service Centre to talk about your circumstances and housing needs.
Note: It is an offence under the Housing Act 2003 to knowingly provide false or misleading information that may influence decisions about your eligibility for housing services.
We will review your eligibility and circumstances while you’re on the housing register so we can work with you to find the right housing options.
It’s important that you respond to any contact we make, otherwise we may remove your application from the housing register.
If your circumstances change, you may no longer be eligible for public and community housing. If you are no longer eligible, we will remove your application from the housing register and work with you to find other housing products and services which may help meet your needs.
Tell us if you’re going away for more than 28 days. This is so we don’t remove your housing application from the housing register if you don’t respond to our letters or phone calls during the time you’re away.
Tell us if you no longer need housing assistance so we can remove your application from the housing register. Contact your nearest Housing Service Centre to talk about your housing needs and they can help you find other housing assistance options if needed.
Guide to applying for housing assistance, 13 Nov 2024, [https://oss-uat.clients.squiz.net/housing/public-community-housing/eligibility-applying-for-housing/guide-to-applying-for-housing-assistance]
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