Housing Hub Listing Quality and Safety Measures

Below is a summary of the processes and checks the Housing Hub completes to make sure only that information in property listings and Housing Provider profiles that appear on the Housing Hub are accurate. We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to avoid misleading information appearing on the Housing Hub. 

Background

Over the past year on the Housing Hub, more than 360 new listings per month on average were created, and more than 37 provider applications per month on average were accepted from providers wanting to list properties. To ensure a quality experience for Housing Seekers and their supporters, the Housing Hub takes a number of steps to check the accuracy and completeness of the information provided. These checks are continuously refined and updated, based on user feedback, the Housing Hub’s own commitment to providing great outcomes for people looking for a home, and our expertise on what makes for a quality listing.

Provider Checks

Registration Status with NDIS

All new provider applications are checked for NDIS registration as follows:

  1. Review the submitted Organisation’s application details, including the categories of homes they are providing, and then input their ABN into the NDIS Registry, to see if they are a registered provider.
  2. Make sure that the provider is registered for the specific categories they want to list for, such as Specialist Disability Accommodation (this is a specific type of listing on Housing Hub), or appropriate support categories if they are a support provider or offering SIL.  
  3. If their organisation does not show up in search results, we reach out to the provider and ask them to clarify their status with the NDIS. If they are operating in official collaboration with a registered provider, to need to provide relevant information and evidence of this partnership.
  4. All provided documentation is kept on file. 

Providers with published listings on the Housing Hub are regularly checked to make sure they are registered to offer the the type of dwellings they list, as follows:

  1. The Housing Hub conducts six-monthly audits to ensure provider listings remain accurate and aligned with current registration details.
  2. If our review identifies a potential change in a provider’s status on the NDIS registry, our team will contact the provider to seek clarification. We give the provider 5 business days to clarify their status.
  3. If we do not receive a response within this timeframe, affected listings are removed until the provider’s status can be confirmed.
  4. Regarding point 3 in the previous section, if the provider account is operating under partnership with a registered provider, this regular check includes verifying that their partner is still registered, and that they are still under contract with them.

If a provider believes their listings have been unpublished in error, they can contact us at support@housinghub.org.au, and our team will review the matter promptly

Choice of Supports Checks

Housing Seekers should always have a say over their supports. The Housing Hub supports this choice through our processes and regular checking of listings.

Our quality control for this includes:

  1. Since March 2024, in line with NDIS requirements, it is mandatory for all SDA listings on the Housing Hub to state that tenants are allowed to bring their own supports.
  2. If the Housing Hub is notified that a housing provider is limiting the ability of prospective tenants to choose their supports, we may contact the provider to explain their obligations under the NDIS and consumer law.
  3. We regularly check SDA listings to compare the SDA provider and support provider. When our checks find listings with the same support provider name and SDA provider name, we contact the owner of the listing and explain NDIS requirements (and our own position) that the SDA provider and support provider not be the same organisation. We ask the support provider to list the actual SDA provider (or vice versa). 
  4. In future, the Housing Hub may automate more checks to protect Housing Seeker choice. 

Listing Quality 

Along with checking of providers and the type of dwellings being listed, the Housing Hub has measures in place to ensure the quality of individual listings. These are some examples of how we do this:

User Feedback

Leveraging insights from user groups and ongoing feedback from website users, the Housing Hub frequently adds or improves features, to raise the value of the Housing Hub for all users. 

For example, we have added Livable Housing Australia’s (LHA) certification level to non-SDA listings, so Housing Seekers can see listings and filter search results to fit their accessibility needs. Listings now also include much more detail about local neighbourhood. Other listing fields and filter options are being constantly refined, and the tools for creating, updating and managing listings are being regularly reviewed and streamlined. With more users accessing the Housing Hub from their phones and other handheld devices, we've been working to improve the mobile experience too.

Our Housing Seeker and Professional Supporter Portals are being upgraded, to make the Housing Hub easier and more useful than ever.

Listing Guidelines & Support

Our comprehensive Marketing Guide helps providers create the best, most informative listings possible on the Housing Hub. We update this guide regularly, to include the latest data insights and feedback from our users.

There are also thorough and descriptive hint text pop-ups next to each field to give more detail and context to what’s required to fulfil each section.

Listing checks

Housing Hub team members, many of whom are actively assisting people with disability to find housing, flag if any listing information is confusing or misleading. This includes qualitative information, such as a clear title and quality listing description, whether the listing includes quality images and floorplan, and whether details in the local amenities fields are accurate.

Missing information 

To make sure that listings display as much useful information as possible, our audits check for missing or inaccurate key data, such as missing rental amounts, or empty fields that are useful for Housing Seekers to learn more about the listing.

Data analysis

The Housing Hub also uses manual and automated data analyses to identify issues with listing quality.

Provider Webinars, Events and Masterclasses

The Housing Hub team regularly hosts provider events – including on topics such as “How To Create Quality Listings” – to support providers to improve the accuracy and quality of their listings. 

We run a quarterly Provider User Group, to gather insights and feedback, and better understand how we can improve our for providers. We are constantly making updates and developing new Provider Portal features, and participants in these groups often see and hear about new features before any other providers or website users in order to make as many improvements as possible before implementation.

Website Security Measures

Cyber security and the security of your information is a top priority for the Housing Hub. We employ best-in-class cyber security practices to make sure your data is secure, including:

  • To identify vulnerabilities, penetration tests are run annually, including by Certified Ethical Hackers who actively attempt to breach our systems
  • All long-term data is stored on-shore in Australia with Amazon Web Services and Salesforce
  • All payments are processed through Stripe and PCI DSS compliant
  • The Housing Hub is authenticated through a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), meaning the website and content is represented accurately, truthfully and audiences will find the content they expect.

The security of your personal or organisation information is paramount to us. We use all reasonable endeavours to keep your information in a secure environment and to protect your personal or organisation information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We keep the information we gather from you in secure systems and/or locked facilities, and limit access to those systems only to people who need access to the information in order to provide you with the services you have requested. 

If we no longer need your personal or organisation information, unless we are required by law to retain it, we will take all reasonable steps to destroy, securely delete, or permanently de-identify your personal information as appropriate.

For a complete view of how we handle your data, please review our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to our team at support@housinghub.org.au

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