Social housing

What is income?

Income is money that you earn or receive.

It includes wages and payments from Centrelink and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Gross income is money you get before tax and other amounts are taken out.

Your gross assessable income is taken into account when we process your social housing application.

Your non-assessable income, such as a Carer's allowance, is not included in assessing your eligibility for social housing.

What are assets?

The assets that are used to assess your eligibility for socialhousing include things like money in the bank, shares, mobile homes and businesses. Assets may include superannuation funds if the money can be accessed. These are your assessable assets.

Non-assessable assets include your personal belongings, car or furniture.

If you own or part-own a house or flat, you are not eligible for assistance but special provisions may apply if you can't live in or sell the property.

To find out more about your income, assets or real estate, contact your local office.

Proof of income and assets

When you apply for social housing or a bond loan, you must give us proof of your current income and assets.

For income we need to see:

• A recent letter from Centrelink showing the amount you receive
• A 13-week wage statement signed by your employer showing your gross (before tax) income or
• If you are self-employed, a profit and loss statement from your accountant.

For assets we need:

• A current bank book, statement, or account print out showing your name
• Proof of the value of any other assets, like shares or business assets.

These documents must not be more than two weeks old when you apply.

To find out more about the documents we need see the Victorian Housing Register guide (.pdf). An accessible version of the guide (.doc) is also available.

If you get Centrelink payments

You can authorise Centrelink to send us information about your income and assets electronically using Centrelink Confirmation eServices.

You can give us permission to do this by:

• Attaching the Centrelink Confirmation eServices form to your online application (see Apply for social housing for more information) or
• Filling in the Centrelink Confirmation eServices section of the Register of Interest application (.pdf).

Current income and asset limits

For the current income and asset limits, go to:

• Bond loan income and asset limits
• Social housing income and asset limits