Woman using tabletACCAN and Infoxchange have come together to produce a report focusing on the more than 427,000 dwellings (about 5 per cent of housing stock) in Australia which fall into the category of social housing – housing provided by the government and community sectors to accommodate people in the lowest income brackets. Residents of social housing are more likely to fall on the wrong side of the digital divide, and face a range of barriers in getting connected. These barriers can be practical, such as getting permissions to install connections in old apartment blocks, budgetary, where the cost to sign up may be prohibitive, or may be related to digital literacy.

More likely than the general public to have no internet connection at home, these residents are often required to interact with government on a regular basis. As such, they are vulnerable to losing effective access to government services if digital connectivity becomes the default.

Download: docSocial Housing and Broadband Report574.5 KB

Download: pdfSocial Housing and Broadband Report1.12 MB