Tenancy Matching Service - Find out more

Article

The National Disability Insurance Scheme’s (NDIS) approach to housing has radically changed the way people with disability find housing and the way providers create and manage housing for people with disability.

Managing vacancies in disability accommodation is transitioning from State and Territory governments towards being managed by the market.

Background

The NDIS’ Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) policy and principles of separation of housing and support have brought new stakeholders into the disability housing market.

Together these 2 changes have created a new need for a market driven disability accommodation Tenancy Matching Service. The biggest benefits of this approach are:

Specialist tenancy matching expertise: Many new SDA providers do not have experience working directly with people with disability or assessing their suitability for housing. NDIS participants and their families require a supported journey to identify their true housing preferences.
Aggregating demand for SDA: It is more efficient to share the cost of educating participants and support coordinators about SDA, building networks and waiting lists for accessible housing.

Our approach to connecting NDIS participants and housing providers

The Summer Foundation has 2 housing matching initiatives: Tenancy Matching Service (TMS) and the Housing Hub, a housing vacancy website. These have been developed to connect participants and housing providers for existing and new housing as it becomes available.

The Summer Foundation’s TMS team works directly with SDA providers to shape their tenant selection criteria and provide advice on developing their marketing and promotional materials. Our team advertises vacancies on behalf of providers to promote the vacancies and connect with potential future tenants.

The TMS team assesses applicants and ranks them against the provider’s criteria. TMS uses a tailored engagement approach to connect to local networks to find potential tenants utilising our internal expertise, knowledge and established processes to match people with disability to housing options. This is a resource intensive service with multiple activity stages required to fill each vacancy.

The TMS team is able to undertake TMS services for SDA Properties with 1 or 2 residents. For projects where there are 2 residents living together, we have developed an approach for the tenants to choose their housemates. This is an additional TMS stage that applies to all projects where 2 residents live in the same dwelling.

TMS Process

The activity undertaken as part of the TMS is shown below. A typical project takes at least six months with four key stages of commencing, engaging, reporting and handover:

*Timeframes are averages and are dependent on the schedule set and agreed by SDA provider and TMS team

STAGE 1 | Commencement | 2 months

Establish project plan
Commencement meeting
Resource planning
Establishment of criteria (provide feedback to provider on their selection criteria, requirements and application form)
Provide coaching session to provider to create ads on the Housing Hub
Provide guidance on promotional products and language

STAGE 2 | Engagement and screening | 3 months

Develop targeted community engagement strategy
Deliver community engagement strategy schedule of events and activities
Manage targeted social media and external media campaigns
Community information sessions
Screening enquiries and applications management
Respond to potential applicant enquiries via phone or email
Conduct screening calls to determine potential eligibility for vacancy
Guidance to applicant on completing the application form
Face-to-face assistance to applicants to complete application form if required (by exception)

STAGE 3 | Report preparation and mentoring for SDA action plans | 3 months

Review applications for information gaps and request additional information where required (participant SDA Action Plans)
Meet applicants for further information if necessary
Produce a ranked list of applicants based on TMS team’s assessment of each applicant against eligibility and criteria set by the SDA provider
Prepare summary reports for each applicant for the SDA provider with an assessment of the applicant’s likelihood of getting SDA at the required design type, building type and location
Workshop for provider “ethical considerations for decision-making” on potential applicants
Facilitate and host tenant selection panel session with SDA provider

STAGE 4 | Handover | 2 months

Prepare a plan showing steps and timing so that applicants can choose their housemates including:

Applicant compatibility co-tenancy questionnaires
Compatibility and co-tenant matching interviews and meetings
Suitable co-tenant matches identified

Benefits of our Service

Expertise and experience in connecting with hard to reach tenant cohort
Established links and networks within the health, disability and aged care sector
Experience in finding and matching tenants across a range of SDA new build developments
Internal knowledge and expertise of the NDIS and SDA eligibility requirement
Provision of applicant summary reports to support NDIS SDA housing applications
Providing a brokerage service that reduces SDA providers’ need to engage in the identification and selection process of potential tenants
Prominent listings with the Housing Hub

Pricing

If you would like a proposal from TMS for your new SDA properties, please contact us using the below enquiry form and we will be in touch.

Some general information about our pricing:

Our TMS service fee starts at $12,000 + GST per tenant for a project identifying at least 8 tenants
This amount can vary if your location is outside of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Adelaide
Non-standard TMS service requests or expert consultation can be quoted on an individual basis
Our proposal will include our terms of business