The process for getting Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funding can seem really complex. The key is to take it one step at a time. The steps are outlined in this video. You can read more about each step below.
Who can help you work out where you want to live, who you want to live with, and how you want to be supported? Who can help you with the evidence you need to give to the NDIS?
A good team will include:
Depending on your needs, your team may also include a positive behaviour support practitioner, psychologist/psychiatrist and other allied health staff.
The Housing Hub can be part of your team too. If you have any questions about applying for SDA, SDA funding or how it works, you can call our Housing Advice Line on 1300 61 64 63 or email housingoptions@housinghub.org.au. Our Home & Living Specialists can support you to work out what your housing goals are, and work with you and your team to achieve those goals.
Before you start, it really helps to know what sort of home you want to live in. Because a good home isn’t just a place you live in, it allows you to live the way you want, achieve the things that are important to you and reduce the amount of support you need.
It can be hard to work out what your next home should be like. Take the time you need to understand your options and talk to people you trust.
Living More Independently - Resource Series
Housing Hub Home & Living Specialists
Tell the NDIS that you need to move house. You can do this even if you don’t want to move straight away. The NDIS cannot think about what kind of new funding you need if it doesn’t know that you are going to make a change.
You need a goal about housing in your NDIS Plan. A housing goal says what you want to happen with your housing. In your housing goal, you need to use the right words for the NDIS.
Your housing goal should talk about:
You can ask to change your goals at any time. To do this call the NDIS on 1800 800 110 or email enquiries@ndis.gov.au
The NDIS can fund a range of supports to help you find the right house for you. This funding is called Investigating Housing Solutions and can include:
SDA Pathway and approval process for NDIS Participants
Video: NDIS Housing Goal Writing
Guide: Looking for somewhere to live
The NDIS needs to be sure that SDA is right for you before it will pay for you to live in SDA. So you need to put together evidence for the NDIS. The NDIS can provide you with extra support coordination and allied health funding to help with this. This funding is called Investigating Housing Solutions. You should request this in your planning meeting.
It is very important that your evidence talks about why you need SDA according to the SDA Rules.
Your paperwork needs to include:
Home and living supporting evidence form (previously called 'Home and living supports request form')
Looking for somewhere to live guide
NDIS Housing Pathway (flowchart)
Participant Housing Statement (guide and template)
Allied Health Housing Assessment guide
Guide to Completing Home and Living Support Request form
How to write a Housing Plan (guide and template)
When your reports and assessments are done you can submit them to the NDIS at any time.
Submit all your evidence together via email to enquiries@ndis.gov.au – remember to cc in your NDIS Planner and Local Area Coordinator. Make sure you ask for a reference number, so you can keep track of where your decision is up to. You should upload your evidence to the NDIS portal too.
A panel of people at the NDIS will decide if you are eligible for SDA.
If you are eligible, the NDIS will put this information in your NDIS plan:
This information about your SDA funding will be in the Capital section of your NDIS plan.
If any information is missing from the SDA funding in your plan you can use the SDA Price Guide to help you find out what has been funded.
What the NDIS decides about your SDA is called a ‘reviewable decision’. This means that if what has been decided isn’t right for you, you can ask the NDIS to look at it again. You should make sure that the information about your SDA funding is given to you in writing.
If you have asked for SDA as a Change in Circumstances, the NDIS need to decide within 21 days if they will do a review of your plan. Then they need to decide about your SDA in 28 days after that. This means that you should have a decision in 49 days. You should put this date in your diary.
Once the NDIS has made a decision about your SDA eligibility, it needs to put the details of your SDA funding in your plan in 7 days.
NDIS Participant Service Guarantee
You can create a profile on the Housing Hub to help you search for the right home. This is where you tell us:
Any listings on the website that we think you might like will be sent to you.
Setting up your Housing Seeker Profile
You can choose a home that matches the details of the SDA funding in your NDIS Plan:
You can apply for an SDA property that costs less than the amount the NDIS has allocated in your NDIS Plan. You can also choose to live in an SDA property that is a different design category, building type or number of residents, but the cost must be the same or less than what is in your plan.
Before you apply for an SDA home that is different to what you have been funded for, it is good to think about why these things were approved for you and make sure the home you apply for is going to meet your needs. You should also check with the NDIS first if you plan to do this.
This is where the NDIS will pay the SDA provider the payment they have allocated you when they approved SDA in your plan. If you have chosen a property that costs less, they will pay the provider the amount that the property costs.
The amount shown in your NDIS Plan is a yearly amount.
This is where you pay the SDA provider your share of the costs of renting the home.
The most an SDA provider can charge you is an amount equal to:
You can find out more on the NDIS website here.
If you choose to live in your SDA home with family or friends, the SDA provider can ask them to pay a reasonable amount of rent too.
SDA Price Guide (see page 9 for info about how much rent you can be asked to pay)
SDA Price Calculator (New SDA builds)
SDA Price Calculator (Existing and legacy SDA)
Some things are best organised before you move, like a bed and any equipment you need.
If there will need to be changes to your support team, it's best to get to know those people make sure they are right before you move.
There might also be some skills you need or want to learn before you move.
If the NDIS decides not to fund SDA for you, or not to fund the type of SDA you believe you need, you can ask the NDIS to review their decision.
It's really important that you understand why the decision was made, so ask for it in writing. You might need to give the NDIS additional evidence about your need for the type of SDA you are seeking. You may also decide that a different type of housing may be right for you.
If the review decision from the NDIS still isn't favourable, you can appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
Freedom of information request
Participant information request
Call our NDIS Housing Advice line
For people with disability, families, and supporters. Monday – Friday 10.00am – 3.00pm AEDT. You can also email us anytime at housingoptions@housinghub.org.au.