Community Housing

Unity Housing is not a crisis housing provider.
If you are in need of emergency housing, please call
Homeless Connect SA on 1800 003 308.

Community Housing

Community housing is the core of Unity Housing’s overall housing portfolio, and provides longer-term rental options to people who are generally working with a support agency. Community housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing that is an alternative to public housing and is designed to cater for the needs of people on very low to moderate incomes who may be experiencing rental stress in, or barriers to, the private market.

Partnerships are crucial to Unity Housing’s success. We provide tenants with information about community-based support through our many partner agencies who provide tenancy and social support, which is the key to independent living for many of our tenants. We place a high value on the development of positive and enduring relationships between ourselves, tenants, support agencies and local communities.

Our partnerships with support and specialist services means we are able to assist individuals with special or complex needs to maintain their tenancy.

Download our Housing Enquiry Pack (PDF)

Am I eligible for community housing?

To be eligible for community housing with Unity Housing, you must:

  • Be a resident in South Australia (SA)
  • Be able to provide proof of identification
  • Be socially or economically disadvantaged
  • Have a household income within the income eligibility limits
  • Not own any assets or property which could reasonably be expected to resolve your housing need
  • Be able to sustain a successful tenancy, with or without support
  • Be 18 years of age or over

You will also need to meet the South Australian Government’s housing eligibility criteria relating to maximum levels of income and asset.

How to register for community housing

Unity Housing selects applicants for community housing from the Single Housing Register (SHR). Generally, we will only offer vacancies to applicants who are actively engaging with one of our partner support agencies, listed below.

This enables us to give people the best chance of maintaining a successful tenancy as we know they have the appropriate support in place.

Speak to the support agency you are engaging with to see if they are eligible to refer you to Unity Housing.

If not, or if you do not require support, you can register online for public or community housing. You can create an online account and register or find relevant forms at Register for Housing.

A list of community housing providers can be found here.

Partner support agencies:

If your support agency is eligible to refer you to Unity Housing, they will assist you to fill out a Registration of Interest (ROI) form. They will also need to complete a Housing Needs Assessment form based on your circumstances. They will then send the forms to Unity Housing along with your identification and income details.

What happens next?

After we receive the documents, the information is processed and will be assessed as a category 1, 2 or 3 then placed on the Single Housing Register (SHR). You will then receive a letter confirming your registration and you will be contacted if a suitable vacancy arises that matches your housing preferences.

Available vacancies are allocated to those deemed to have the most urgent housing need and best match the available property. Even if you have special circumstances, it can still take a very long time before you are offered a property. This is because there may be other applicants with special circumstances who have already been approved for earlier housing assistance or the properties that become available may not match your circumstances.

It is important that you keep your contact details up to date so we can get in touch with you if a suitable property becomes available. Housing is in limited supply, so please ensure you keep exploring all housing options.

Each year you will be sent a letter asking you to make contact with Unity to make sure your details and circumstances are still the same or to update any changes. If you do not make contact within the required timeframe, you may lose your current Category status. This means that if you are Category 1 and do not make contact, you will automatically drop back to Category 2.