Summer Foundation’s role in the SDA Market
The following content aims to provide clarity on any perceived conflicts of interest between the Housing Hub team, Summer Foundation policy and research projects, and Summer Housing.
Summer Foundation
The Summer Foundation is a not for profit, established in 2006, that is committed to resolving the issue of young people living in aged care. The Summer Foundation commissioned two housing demonstration projects for younger people with disability living in, or at risk of admission to, nursing homes. The first project featured two apartments in Abbotsford, Victoria in 2013. The success of this first project was replicated with 10 more apartments in the Hunter region of NSW in 2016. The co-located apartment model was developed to enable people with high support needs (including younger people in residential aged care and younger people at risk of entering residential aged care) to be able to live in their own apartment but be co-located to enable the cost-effective provision of support.
Housing Hub
People with disability also need ways to effectively connect with housing that may be right for them. Recognising this deficit in the accessible housing market, the Summer Foundation created the Housing Hub website and an associated Tenancy Matching Service in 2017. The Housing Hub website is an online platform that supports housing seekers and housing providers to connect, and is free for both housing seekers and housing providers. Housing providers can choose to pay for premium listings and bespoke data reports. The Housing Hub has over 1,240 housing providers as customers listing both SDA and non-SDA properties.
We are not a Provider
The Summer Foundation is not an SDA provider or a registered NDIS provider, and does not own any SDA funded apartments. So far the Summer Foundation has supported over 569 NDIS participants to receive a housing offer in new SDA, including 94 younger people in residential aged care. The Tenancy Matching Service is a social enterprise that operates on a cost recovery basis as part of the Summer Foundation’s Housing Hub initiative.
There are more than 15 different disability organisations providing shared support to tenants living in SDA apartments across Australia. The Summer Foundation is not an NDIS provider and does not have any influence on the selection of disability support providers in SDA funded apartments.
The Summer Foundation’s position is that we want to see a whole range of dwelling types and housing options so that NDIS participants have a real choice. We do not have a vested interest in any particular dwelling type and promote the benefits of a diverse market with flexible support arrangements, tailored to the needs of individuals.
November 2021
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