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. 

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.

There are 5 types of Specialist Disability Accommodation. These are referred to as the SDA Design Categories:

Basic 

Covers older properties that don’t have any special design features.  Basic SDA is no longer being built.

Improved Liveability 

If you find it difficult to see or understand things around you, then Improved Liveability SDA might suit you.

Improved Liveability SDA is easy to move around in. Doorways, handles and switches are easy to see and it’s often easy to see from one room through to the next.

Fully Accessible 

If you have a significant physical disability, then Fully Accessible SDA might suit you. Most often, people who are eligible for Fully Accessible SDA use a wheelchair to get around some or all of the time. 

There are no steps in a Fully Accessible home. Doorways are wide enough for a wheelchair. The bathroom is designed to be used by people who are sitting as well as standing and the kitchen often is too.

High Physical Support 

If you use an electric wheelchair to get around, or a hoist to get in and out of bed, or you need many hours of support every day, then High Physical Support SDA might suit you.

A High Physical Support home has all the features of Fully Accessible SDA, plus emergency back-up power and a ceiling that is strong enough for a ceiling hoist. It will often have an intercom that connects you to a support worker who is close by. It may also have assistive technology that suits the needs of the person who lives there. This could include doors, lights and heating that can be controlled with your voice or a device.

Robust 

If you sometimes act in a way that may not be safe for you or the people around you, then Robust SDA might suit you. 

The walls, windows and other things in a Robust home aren’t easily broken. It has good sound-proofing, so that sounds from outside don’t upset you, and so that any noise you make doesn’t upset the neighbours. The doors and windows are secure. A Robust home will also have a space where you, other residents or staff can go to keep safe.

SDA also includes 5 Building Types.

1. Apartments Self-contained units in a larger residential building

2. Duplexes, villas and townhouses Separate but semi-attached properties on one piece of land. This includes housing, such as granny flats

3. Houses Detached low-rise dwellings with garden or courtyard areas

4. Group homes Houses for 4 or 5 long-term residents

5. Larger dwellings For more than 5 long-term residents

The NDIS pays for people to live in SDA.

If the NDIS says that you’re eligible to live in SDA, the SDA payments are included in your NDIS plan. 

The SDA payments are paid straight to your SDA landlord.

You may have to pay too. People living in SDA usually have to pay a “reasonable rent contribution”. This means you pay 25% of the disability support pension to your landlord, plus any Commonwealth rent assistance you get.

Some people have built their own SDA with a loan from the bank, then use the SDA payments in their NDIS plan to repay the home loan.

To get SDA payments in your NDIS plan, the NDIS has to decide that you are eligible for SDA.

The NDIS has said that these people are eligible for SDA:

 ·     People with extreme functional impairment

·      People with very high support needs

You need to be able to show that you fit into one of these groups. 

It helps to have a good support coordinator. They can help you show the NDIS that you have an extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. 

For the NDIS to think about putting SDA payments in your NDIS plan, they must be sure that SDA payments are a reasonable and necessary way of supporting you to reach your goals.

So, make sure that one of the goals in your NDIS plan is to “live as independently as possible”.

It also really helps to get in touch with a great occupational therapist, who can write a report that shows how living in SDA will help you live a good life and reach your goals.

The NDIS is all about you having choice and control. Under the NDIS, where you live and who supports you are separate. 

SDA refers to a type of housing. The SDA payments in your NDIS plan pay for where you live.

The Supported Independent Living (SIL) or Individual Living Options (ILO) funding in your NDIS plan pays for the people that support you.

If you like where you live but are not happy with the way you’re being supported, you should be able to change who supports you. 

If where you live doesn’t meet your needs or makes you unhappy, you should be able to change where you live without needing to change who supports you.

Some SDA properties have overnight or 24-hour on-site support that is shared by residents. Usually, each resident pays for part of the cost of this support from their support funding. 

The rest of your support funding is used by you to pay for the planned support that you need.

In some SDA properties, the residents choose the on-site support provider together. In other SDA properties, the SDA landlord chooses who provides the on-site support. 

In all SDA properties, you have the right to choose who provides your planned support.

Housing Seekers are now able to create a profile which will help you match with a property that suits your housing needs and preferences.  When logged in, a suitability score will also be displayed so that you can see instantly how close the property is to what you are looking for. Having a profile also means that you will get notified when properties that match your housing preferences are listed on the Housing Hub. Click the button below an create a profile today!

Many companies are advertising new SDA properties, so your support coordinator can help you look. New SDA builds are often advertised on the Housing Hub even before they are finished, so make sure you check regularly or create a profile so you are notified.