NDIS Disability Housing & Accommodation

Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is a house, apartment or other type of home that has been designed for people who need a lot of support.

SDA includes special features that help people live as independently as possible.

Depending on who it is designed for, an SDA property might have wide doorways, a hoist in the bedroom or bathroom, strong walls and windows that won’t get damaged easily or special technology.

https://ourguidelines.ndis.gov.au/supports-you-can-access-menu/home-and-living-supports/short-term-accommodation-or-respite/what-short-term-accommodation-including-respite

Short Term Accommodation, including respite, is support for when you need to live out of home for a short period.

Short Term Accommodation funding can be used for respite to support you and your carers. This gives your carers a short break from their caring role.

Sometimes a short stay away from home:

• gives you the chance to try new things
• can be a place to make new friends or develop new skills
• may help to maintain your current living situation by giving your informal supports a break.

Short Term Accommodation may suit your needs if your usual support network isn’t available for a short period. 

Short Term Accommodation includes:

• personal care
• accommodation
• food
• activities you and the provider agree to.

Usually we fund up to 28 days of Short Term Accommodation per year. You can use your Short Term Accommodation funding flexibly. For example, you might want to use it in a block of up to 14 days at a time or for one weekend a month.

Generally funding is for a group price, unless there is evidence you require individual support because of your disability. This means you may share supports with other people unless you need individual support because of your disability.

If you already have funding in your Core budget, you can use this for Short Term Accommodation.

You can choose to use your Core budget on a range of supports like Short Term Accommodation to suit your needs. You should think about the best way to use your budget to pursue the goals in your plan.

Not all people with disability can live in SDA.

The NDIS decides who can live in SDA.

To be eligible, you must have an extreme functional impairment or very high support needs.

Having extreme functional impairment means that even if your home has been set up to suit you, you still need assistance to do things like:

Getting out of bed
Getting dressed
Making meals
Going out

Having very high support needs means that you need many hours of support every day. It might mean that your parents provide a lot of your support, but they are getting older, or you may have spent a long time living in a group home or nursing home. It may also mean that sometimes you act in a way that might not be safe for you or the people around you.

If you want the NDIS to think about whether you can live in SDA, make “I want to live as independently as possible” one of the goals in your NDIS plan.