Privacy Policy

Housing Australia's operations are governed by the Housing Australia Act 2018 (Cth) (Housing Australia Act) and the Housing Australia Investment Mandate Direction 2018 (Investment Mandate [available via www.housingaustralia.gov.au]).

Under the Housing Australia Act, our primary purpose is to improve, directly or indirectly, housing outcomes for Australians.

Our functions under the Housing Australia Act are:

• to make loans and grants to constitutional corporations, States and Territories and certain other specified entities to improve, directly or indirectly, housing outcomes;
• to provide business advisory services and other assistance in capacity building to registered community housing providers;
• to issue guarantees to improve housing outcomes;
• to undertake any other functions conferred on us by the Housing Australia Act or any other Commonwealth law; and
• to do anything incidental or conducive to the performance of the above functions

Housing Australia collects your personal information when we provide you with a product 
or service. We only collect information that is reasonably necessary to provide you with 
the product or service.

Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme

We collect personal information to administer and process applications for the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. When you submit an application, we usually collect your: 

• name and contact details (email, phone number, address);
• date of birth, gender and marital status;
• Medicare number or Australia Defence Force Personnel number;
• Citizenship or residency status and identification details, residential history, employment details and financial information; and
• other information about your personal circumstances (i.e. home ownership).

We collect this information from your participating lender in order to:

• confirm your identity and homeownership status;
• assess your application and associated claims;
• monitor ongoing compliance with the scheme requirements;
• manage our rights and obligations under the scheme (i.e. reporting); and
• assist financiers, Australian Government agencies and State and Territory government entities with scheme enquiries. 

If we collect your personal information, we will generally only use and disclose it for the purpose for which it was collected. Where appropriate, we may disclose your personal information to Commonwealth or State and Territory bodies or other entities including to:

• anyone who represents you, such as finance brokers, lawyers, accountants, guardians and/or persons holding power of attorney;
• your participating lender or other organisations involved in providing or managing;
  your mortgage;
• government agencies and departments;
• insurers or auditors; and
• any other person or entity to whom we are required or authorised to disclose information to by law.

Australian Government Help to Buy Scheme

We may collect the following kinds of personal information as part of the Help to Buy Scheme (Help to Buy Scheme):

• full name and contact details (email, phone number, address);
• date of birth;
• gender;
• occupation;
• income and other information about your finances;
• Australian citizenship status;
• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status;
• Medicare or Department of Veterans' Affairs card number;
• identity documents;
• information about any other Commonwealth, State or Territory housing (or similar) schemes in which you participate in (or intend to participate);
• information about your potential or actual loan from your participating lender;
• information about your potential or actual financial contribution from Housing Australia as part of the Help to Buy Scheme;
• information about the property you intend to purchase, or have purchased (including information about renovations, valuation information, insurance information and construction information where the property is a new build);
• health information of applicants, participants or other individuals for whom they care for, where relevant to an exemption application; and
• other information relevant to your application for, or continued eligibility to participate in, the Help to Buy Scheme. 

We collect this information from:

• you directly;
• the applicant for, or participant in, the Help to Buy Scheme (where this is not you);
• your participating lender;
• our conveyancer; and
• valuers and other service providers who assist in the management of the Help to Buy Scheme.

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information to:

• manage and track your application;
• assess your eligibility to participate in the Help to Buy Scheme, including your eligibility for any exemptions;
• provide our financial contribution, including obtaining funds from the Commonwealth Treasury and reporting to the Commonwealth Treasury for this purpose;
• manage settlement, in conjunction with our conveyancer;
• register our mortgage;
• manage your participation in the Help to Buy Scheme, including monitoring and assessing your continuing eligibility for the program and managing any requests made in respect of your participation (such as a request for valuation of your property);
• manage our functions, powers and obligations in respect of the Help to Buy Scheme, including those under the Help to Buy Act 2024 (Cth) and the Help to Buy Program Directions 2025 (Cth);
• conduct surveys in relation to the Help to Buy Scheme; and
• advise you of, and invite you to attend, events and information sessions, and share Housing Australia updates with you, including new publications and media releases.

We may disclose your personal information to: 

• your participating lender;
• our conveyancer;
• the Commonwealth Treasury;
• our IT service providers, for the purpose of obtaining technical support;
• valuers and other service providers who assist in the management of the Help to Buy Scheme;
• service providers who undertake surveys on our behalf (limited name and email address only); and
• any other person to whom we are required or authorised to disclose information by law.

We may also de-identify your personal information (so that you are no longer reasonably identifiable) and disclose the de-identified information to the Minister and to other Commonwealth or State and Territory bodies.

Housing finance and funding schemes

We collect, use and disclose personal information to administer and process applications from eligible entities for our other programs, including:

• the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator;
• the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility and National Housing Accord Facility;
• the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (Critical Infrastructure);
• the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (Social and Affordable Housing) ; and
• the Capacity Building Program

If you register for an account on the Housing Australia Portal (HAP) and submit an application for finance or funding on behalf of your organization, we will collect your:

• name, email and contact phone number;
• role or relationship with the organisation.

We collect this information from you to:

• create your HAP user account;
• assess your organisation’s application;
• contact you about your organisation’s application; and
• manage our rights and obligations (i.e. reporting).

We may also collect personal information (i.e. name, position and contact details) about individuals forming part of, or working for, community housing providers, State and Territory entities, local governments or other eligible entities which participate in our programs in order to facilitate the provision of financial assistance. Where practicable, we collect this information directly from the individuals concerned. To the extent you are entering personal information of third parties into the Housing Portal then you are expected to have obtained their consent to do so.

If we collect your personal information, we will generally only use and disclose it for the particular purpose for which it was collected. Where appropriate, and in accordance with the consents provided when you applied for finance or funding, we may disclose your personal information to other Commonwealth or State and Territory bodies or other entities, including to:

• community housing providers, States, Territories, local governments, and other entities to which Housing Australia is providing financial assistance and related services;
• State and Territory Registrars of community housing;
• external contractors, advisers, suppliers or consultants who we engage to assist us perform our functions and duties;
• government agencies and departments;
• insurers or auditors; and
• any other person or entity to whom we are required or authorised to disclose information by law.

When you interact with Housing Australia, for example, when you:

• make an application;
• request information about our products or services;
• make a complaint or leave feedback, or
• access our online services,

we collect and use information about your interactions with us so we can improve our service and product delivery.

In general, we collect your personal information directly from you when you deal with us through our website, letter, email, face to face, online portals, paper forms or over the telephone. 

We will only collect sensitive information (i.e. about a disability or your personal circumstances) with your consent, for example, when you self-declare through your dealings with us. 

Can you deal with us anonymously or pseudonymously?

Where practicable, you may choose to remain anonymous or adopt a pseudonym when dealing with us, for example, if you make a complaint. However, in most situations it will be necessary for us to collect your name and other personal details. 

Online interactions 

When you interact with us online, we collect information about:

• pages you visit;
• documents you download;
• online forms you fill in;
• searches you make; and
• other technical data (i.e. your browser, server address, top level domain name).

We collect information about your online interactions with us to facilitate website and system administration and to improve our service delivery.

However, we do not attempt to identify users or their browsing activities unless required or authorised by law. 

External sites that are linked to or from our website are not under our control and users should view the privacy policies on these external sites separately. 

Housing Australia may use your personal information to:

• advise you of and invite you to events and information sessions;
• share Housing Australia updates with you, including new publications and media releases; and
• conduct surveys in relation to Housing Australia's activities including providing this information to third party service providers who undertake surveys on our behalf.

We refer to these communications as 'Commercial communications'. Commercial communications are unrelated to a transaction you may have with Housing Australia.

Opt Out

If you do not want to receive these materials you can opt out by clicking unsubscribe on the email which will remove you from all Housing Australia Commercial communications or by emailing enquiries@housinguastralia.gov.au and advising which communications you no longer wish to receive. Commercial communications are those unrelated to a transaction you may have with Housing Australia.

We may also use and disclose personal information collected in connection with our functions and activities where such use or disclosure is reasonably necessary to support the promotion and advancement of those functions, including for the following purposes:

• to conduct research into housing affordability in Australia;
• to develop, establish and administer alliances and other arrangements with organisations in relation to the promotion, administration, and use of our respective products and services; and
• to provide assistance to Commonwealth entities in relation to the operation and administration of financial arrangements and agreements of those entities. 

Employees 

We collect, use and disclose personal information to establish and maintain records for the employment and recruitment of staff. If you work, or apply to work, for Housing Australia we usually collect:

• your name and contact details (phone, email, address);
• your date of birth, gender, next of kin;
• information provided in your employment application (i.e. academic qualifications, credentials, references and employment histories);
• financial information (i.e. tax file number and banking details);
• information relevant to your health, safety, performance and professional development; and
• other information obtained during the normal course of your employment.

We may collect sensitive information (i.e. information about your racial or ethnic origin, memberships of a political associations or trade unions, religious beliefs or affiliation, health information, and criminal record) where you provide this information in accordance with your employment or prospective employment. 

Employee personal information is used and disclosed to conduct recruitment processes, including referee checks. Personal information is also used and disclosed for the purpose of managing employee health and safety, professional development, performance and other employee management functions, to meet regulatory reporting obligations or as required or authorised by law or Ministerial declaration.

Contractors and suppliers

We collect personal information in the course of procuring goods or services from contractors and suppliers. We collect this information for the purpose of, and only to the extent reasonably necessary for, conducting those procurement activities and the subsequent management of our relationships with contractors and suppliers.

If you are engaged as a contractor or supplier, or are an employee (or specified personnel) of an entity engaged to provide or supply us with goods or services, we may collect your:

• name, contact details (phone number, email, address);
• employment and financial background, references, security checks and performance assessments and material personal interest declarations; and
• payment details.

If we collect your personal information, we will generally only use and disclose it for the purpose for which it was collected. We will not disclose your personal information to third parties unless we are required or authorised by law law or by Ministerial declaration to do so, including pursuant to an order of either House, or a Committee of either House, of Parliament.

We hold the personal information we collect to carry out our functions and provide you with products and services.

When we no longer need the personal information we have collected and hold, we will deal with the information in one of the following ways:

• if the information is subject to the requirements of the Archives Act 1983 and related National Archives’ policy requirements, we will archive the information in a secure manner consistent with those requirements;
• if we are required to retain the information by or under another law or an order of a court or tribunal, we will retain the information in a secure manner consistent with the relevant requirement;, and
• if we are not required to archive the information or otherwise retain the information, we will destroy the information consistently with the requirements of APP 11.

We use a range of technical and organisational measures to protect and secure the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. For example, we:

• ensure our buildings, paper and electronic data stores are physically secured with locks and/or security systems;
• use firewalls, anti-malware protection, multi-factor authentication, encryption, privileged access management, system vulnerability scanning, user identifiers and strong passwords to control electronic access to computer systems and to secure our data;
• impose contractual obligations regarding confidentiality and compliance with the Privacy Act on third parties that handle personal information on our behalf;
• have in place a Data Breach Response Plan to take appropriate action and effective measures in the event of an actual or suspected data breach; and
• have in place staff training, operating procedures and policies for securing and protecting personal information.
   

Housing Australia does not intend to disclose your personal information to any overseas recipient. However, should circumstances require us to transfer your personal information outside Australia, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient has policies, procedures and systems in place to ensure your information is handled in accordance with the Privacy Act.

You have the right to:    

• request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• request correction of the personal information we hold about you. 

If you wish to obtain access or seek correction of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details enquiries@housingaustralia.gov.au, or write to us at: Housing Australia PO Box Q111 QVB, Sydney NSW 1230. 

Your request should specify the information you wish to access or are seeking to correct and provide your contact details, including an email address or mailing address. 

Before granting access to or correcting your personal information, we may require you to verify your identity. There is no charge for lodging a request to access or correct your personal information. We will respond to your request within 30 days. 

If we refuse access or correction, we will provide written notice outlining the reasons for our decision and information on how you can make a complaint. If your correction request is refused, you may ask us to associate a statement with your personal information indicating that you believe the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant, or misleading. We will take reasonable steps to ensure this statement is linked to your relevant personal information.

If you are unhappy with the response to your request for access or correction, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

If you wish to make a complaint about the way we handle your personal information you should contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details set out in this Policy or email us at complaints@housingaustralia.gov.au. 

We aim to acknowledge receipt of a complaint within two business days, and to respond to it within ten business days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may make a written complaint to the Privacy Commissioner setting out the details of the practices that you think interfere with your privacy. The Privacy Commissioner will generally expect you to complain to us first and will likely refer your complaint to us if you have not done so already.  

For more information about the Privacy Commissioner or how to make a privacy complaint, see the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website (www.oaic.gov.au) or telephone 1300 363 992 (local call charge).

If you wish to:

• obtain access to or seek correction of your personal information;
• opt out of receiving marketing information;
• lodge a complaint about the way we handle your personal information;
• query how your personal information is collected, used or disclosed; or
• ask questions about our Privacy Policy,

You may contact us during business hours at telephone 1800 549 767 (and ask to speak to our Privacy Officer), email enquiries@housingaustralia.gov.au, or write to us at:

PO Box Q111 QVB, 
Sydney NSW 1230