What's changed? Comparing occupancy patterns at Unison Housing between 2014 and 2016 with tenancies that commenced in 2017

This report has reviewed the most recent 12 months of tenancy data and compared this with data collected between 2014 to 2016. We found that tenant characteristics, in terms of previous housing status, gender, and tenancy type, were largely consistent with earlier years. However, improveddata collection in relation to household type resulted in a significant jump in the proportion of single households, which constituted 81 percent of new tenancies in 2017. An increase in the proportion of main tenants with a disability and a decrease in the number of Indigenous households was also noted. Overall retention rates, that is the number of tenancies that were intact at the end of 12 months, were at the highest rate recorded since 2014. We noted that this was largely due to stability in long-term tenancies with over 80 percent remaining intact at the end of 2017. Retention in rooming houses remains volatile but is consistent with expectations.