The sector’s most important contributions are the least well measured

Tenant support, early intervention and community development are the most distinctive community housing organisation contributions yet the least well reported.

Data systems are fragmented and largely compliance-driven

Most community housing organisations use multiple platforms that are not integrated with each other, requiring separate user input for each and making it difficult to prioritise or interpret what is collected.

Standard metrics do not reflect NT system constraints

Applying national benchmarks without contextual adjustment creates misleading comparisons given NT’s unique structural constraints.

Reporting duplication is a significant burden

Overlap between National Regulatory System for Community Housing and NT Government reporting requires essentially the same information at different reporting periods.

Anti-social behaviour data are a credibility risk for the sector

Reporting is reactive and does not distinguish by incident type or root cause, leaving the sector vulnerable to misinterpretation.

Data governance is foundational to NT Shelter’s stewardship role

Community housing organisations support data sharing conditionally, requiring bounded purpose, community housing organisation oversight, reduced reporting burden, and a credible framework.

The report provides 11 recommendations on data collection and governance practices to support the development of a collective data resource for the NT urban community housing sector.

The emphasis throughout is on data that are credible, defensible under external scrutiny, and enable the sector to drive the narrative around impact, performance and capacity. Getting the support of key stakeholders and developing principles for data governance underpin the successful development of the proposed data resource.