Medium Term Accommodation

When a person is waiting for their best long term housing option to be ready, they may need interim or temporary housing. The NDIS may fund Medium-Term Accommodation (MTA) for this time. MTA is usually available for up to 90 days and will only cover the cost of the housing, not the support.

So it’s really important to think about MTA in relation to the person's long-term housing. The person, their family, guardians, health and disability professionals, support provider agencies and housing provider agencies can do these 6 things.

They might not be in this order, but they all should be done:

  1. Find out the person’s housing needs and preferences and the supports they need, which means really understanding their best long term housing option and their best long term support model. These resources can help.
  2. Record the person’s housing needs and preferences and the supports they need, in all important documents and keeping this at the forefront of all planning, searching and ideas.
  3. Search for housing that meets the person’s housing needs and preferences. Learn more about the Housing Seeker Portal and how it can help you search for new housing.
  4. Complete all the assessments and evidence that the NDIS will use to determine your needs for SDA, AT (Assistive Technology/equipment), SIL (Supported Independent Living), whether some or all of your supports will be shared, and/or ILO (Independent Living Options).
  5. Consider if the person also needs an interim housing option. Include a request for MTA funding for this too – see below for further info.
  6. Search for interim housing, that ideally meets your housing needs and preferences, or is at least a really good ‘temporary compromise’.

Eligibility for MTA

You may be eligible for MTA funding if you are:

  • Waiting home modifications to be done
  • Leaving hospital, aged care or prison
  • Experiencing a breakdown of supports and can’t live in your current home
  • Waiting for a vacancy to become available in the place where you want to live, and you have an offer for this place, or
  • Waiting for new SDA home to be ready, and you have an offer for this SDA

In these situations, the NDIS may determine it reasonable and necessary to put MTA funding in your plan.

** Important Note: To fund MTA, the NDIS needs evidence that you have somewhere to move into at the end of the MTA funding. In most cases, MTA will not be funded otherwise.

Support to get MTA funding in your plan

The Housing Hub’s Home & Living Specialist Support Coordination Team can support you with your application for MTA funding.

Searching for MTA on the Housing Hub

Click here to view all listings on the Housing Hub that accept MTA funding. You can also select the 'Map view' option to browse listings in the local area.

MTA Operational Guidelines and Price Guide Information

The NDIS has MTA Operational Guidelines available on their website. These provide lots of detail about when and how MTA will be funded.

In the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (2025-26), MTA funding is described like this:

This support item covers the accommodation costs of Medium-Term Accommodation. The support component of the care should be claimed separately. This support item recognises that there may be cases where a participant will require longer term transitional accommodation before moving into a more permanent home or arrangement (for example, after hospital discharge). Typically, MTA would be used for periods up to 90 days. Participants who stay in MTA are responsible for meeting their own food and everyday living costs from their own income rather than NDIS plan.


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Browse Resources

Housing Seeker Profile

Creating a Housing Seeker Profile is a simple process which involves telling us what you are looking for and what is important to you.

Housing Roadmap

The Housing Hub has worked alongside people with disability to map out the stages of a housing journey and the information you need to know about when moving through each step.

Living More Independently

The Housing Hub has teamed up with Mable to create a three-part series about living more independently.