SDA Eligibility

To be eligible for SDA housing, you will need SDA approval  under the ‘Capital’ section in your NDIS plan.

That approval is made of three elements: Design Category, Building Type, and Number of Residents.

The ‘design category’ refers to the features you need in your home, based on your disability support needs.

There are 4 specialist disability accommodation design categories:
Improved Liveability – has particular features for people with sensory, intellectual or cognitive impairments.

Fully Accessible – housing with a high level of physical access features for people who face physical challenges in regular housing.

High Physical support – housing that includes a high level of physical access for people who need very high levels of support (e.g. a ceiling hoist, backup power supply, or home automation and communication technology).

Robust – housing that may suit people who need help managing complex and challenging behaviours.

(Other categories: ‘Basic’, or ‘legacy’ are used, for people living in housing that pre-dates the NDIS, and doesn’t always comply with any of the above SDA design categories’ requirements. These are no longer added to plans).

Your SDA approval will also indicate a building type. There are 4 building types on offer:

Apartments – self-contained units that are part of a larger residential building.

Duplexes, villas, townhouses – separate but semi-attached properties within a single land title or strata titled area. This also includes stand-alone villas or granny-flats.

Houses – detached low-rise buildings with garden or courtyard areas.Group homes – houses that have 4 or 5 residents.

A third and important aspect of your approval determines how many people you have been approved to live with:

Single resident – means you can live alone and/or with a family member who does not have SDA, in an apartment or villa/townhouse

Shared – with 1 or 2 other people, in a range of building types, including houses

Shared with more than 2 others.

These are primarily approvals for people living in ‘group homes’, and often in ‘legacy’ housing stock that was built prior to the NDIS.

When you are looking for a suitable SDA housing option, you will need to know what you have been approved for in all three categories. Our team can assist you to work through this detail.

Please contact us at: [email protected],  or call 1300 452 732, if you need further information.