SDA stands for Specialist Disability Accommodation

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been established to provide reasonable and necessary supports to people with a permanent and significant disability. Under the NDIS, some participants will receive funding for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA). SDA is accommodation for people with very high support needs who meet the eligibility criteria and require specialist housing support.  

The NDIS can fund supports that are related to your disability including, where necessary, accommodation required as part of your support.  SDA homes are constructed to be more accessible for you and to enable better or safer delivery of other supports you may need.  

SDA homes include purpose-built apartments and townhouses to modified free-standing houses.  SDA is not housing for all people with a disability, it only caters for those who require a specialist housing solution. There are five SDA design categories and the NDIS will assess your support needs to recommend the right design category and building type for you. 

Most people who access the NDIS don’t need to live in SDA. People who do need SDA have extremely high needs. They need to live in very specialised homes, usually with high levels of person-to-person support.

To decide if someone is eligible for SDA funding, the NDIS asks three questions:

• Do you have an ‘extreme functional impairment’? or ‘very high support needs’?
• Do you have an SDA needs requirement?
• Is SDA reasonable and necessary for you?

As an NDIS participant, you will go through a planning process in which you meet with an NDIS representative to discuss your current situation and supports, including whether you may require SDA.  This process may lead to an assessment of your need for SDA.  During your planning meeting with the NDIA your eligibility for the SDA will be discussed, including the kind of SDA you might like. 

The NDIA will talk to you about three key things:

• whether you meet the eligibility criteria
• SDA design categories, building types, and locations
• if you already live in SDA and if you would like to keep living there. 

When you get SDA in your plan, it will show the design category, building type, and location for which you are approved. These things determine how much funding you get. This funding is for the provider of your SDA. You can choose which SDA registered provider you want unless one is outlined in your plan. They can claim the funding when they provide the home, or property, to you.

The amount of SDA funding included in your plan will depend on a range of factors including the type of building you require, how many people you will live with, its location and any additional features.  The funding you receive for SDA is specifically to cover the cost of the housing as well as ongoing costs such as maintenance. SDA funding is not for the support services a person will receive while living in their accommodation, this support is funded separately by the NDIS. In addition to SDA funding, NDIS participants are expected to make a reasonable rent contribution.