Housing is the hardest thing most support coordinators deal with. This guide explains the NDIS housing supports, Supported Independent Living, Individualised Living Options and Specialist Disability Accommodation, and how a coordinator helps a participant get from wanting to move to actually moving.
Few things in the NDIS take longer, involve more assessments or go wrong in more ways than housing. The funding types are confusing, the evidence requirements are demanding, the supply of suitable housing is thin and the sequence has to be right or a participant ends up with a lease and no funding. Support coordinators spend a large share of their time on this. MediHealth Connect provides support coordination across South East Queensland, and this guide explains how the housing pieces fit.
Supported Independent Living (SIL) funds the support workers in a shared or individual home, typically for participants who need help throughout the day, and is claimed from Core. Individualised Living Options (ILO) fund a package designed around how a participant wants to live, for example with a host family or a housemate arrangement, and are more flexible than SIL. Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funds the physical dwelling itself for participants with very high support needs or extreme functional impairment, and is separate from the support delivered in it. Most participants who need housing support get SIL or an ILO; SDA is a smaller group.
Housing funding is evidence-heavy. The NDIA expects a functional assessment from an occupational therapist, a housing plan or exploration report describing the options considered, evidence of support needs across a typical day and week, and for SDA a detailed assessment against the SDA eligibility criteria. A coordinator organises these reports, makes sure they answer the questions the NDIA actually asks, and lodges the request in the right form. Requests that skip a step are refused, and the refusal can cost months.
Funding before housing. A participant who signs a lease or moves into a SIL house before the plan funds it is exposed. The usual order is: assessments and reports, a plan review or variation to fund the support, a search for housing that matches the funded support, then providers, modifications, equipment and the move itself. The coordinator manages the order and keeps the family, the OT, the housing provider and the SIL provider talking to each other.
SIL vacancies are advertised by SIL providers and through housing matching services; the coordinator helps you assess whether a vacancy fits, including the other residents, the location and the provider's track record. ILO arrangements are designed rather than found and take longer to set up. SDA is listed by SDA providers and is scarce in most of South East Queensland. Mainstream social housing is a separate system, and a coordinator works alongside the housing service rather than replacing it.
The first months in new housing are when problems appear: rosters that do not fit, housemates who do not get on, a provider that is not delivering what the agreement says. The coordinator checks in, adjusts, and where necessary starts the process of changing SIL providers, which does not require changing houses. Our life stage and transition support page covers the move into independent living as one of the transitions we coordinate.
Generally no. Rent is a living cost the participant pays, often with Commonwealth Rent Assistance. SDA funds the dwelling for eligible participants, and SIL and ILO fund the support, not the housing.
Months rather than weeks, because of the assessments and the review or variation process. Starting early, with a coordinator organising the reports, is the only way to shorten it.
In many arrangements, yes, because the support and the housing are separate. Where the SIL provider also controls the tenancy, it is more complicated, and the coordinator will explain the options before you commit.
MediHealth Connect provides support coordination across South East Queensland.