How to apply for SDA housing
The steps to ask the NDIS for Specialist Disability Accommodation funding, and what happens after you do.
You do not apply for SDA to a housing provider. You ask the NDIS to include SDA funding in your plan, and the NDIA decides. It comes down to three things: working out what you need, talking to your my NDIS contact, and giving the NDIA evidence from a treating health professional. Once SDA funding is in your plan, you can start looking for a home.
Step 1: Work out what you need
Before you speak to anyone, it helps to write things down. The NDIS suggests making a list of:
- The support you need because of your disability, including the daily tasks you need help with
- Your goals, including where you would like to live and who you would like to live with
- The informal and community support you already have, from family, friends or local organisations
Step 2: Talk to your my NDIS contact
Your my NDIS contact can explain the full range of home and living supports, not just SDA, and help you work out which ones fit. That includes supports from state and territory agencies, from your local community, and the NDIS supports already in your plan. If you have a support coordinator, bring them into this conversation early.
Step 3: Provide your evidence
This is the step that decides the outcome, and it is where applications most often fall down. The NDIA needs recent evidence from a treating health professional, usually an occupational therapist, who may need to complete an assessment as well as write a report.
The NDIS asks that the evidence explains all three of the following. Missing the third is the most common gap:
- Your daily support and housing needs, including how often and at what times of day you need support
- What you can and cannot do because of your disability, and how that affects your daily life and your housing needs
- What other home and living options you have explored, and why they do not meet your disability related support needs
If you already have home and living supports and your needs have changed, your evidence has to be dated after your last plan was approved, and it needs to spell out what has changed and the effect on your daily life.
Where to send it
You can submit your evidence in whichever way suits you. Tell the NDIA why you are sending it:
- Through the NDIS service hub online
- By post to NDIA, GPO Box 700, Canberra ACT 2601
- In person to your my NDIS contact or your local NDIS office
Read the NDIS guidance on asking for home and living supports
What happens next
The NDIA reviews your evidence and decides whether home and living supports go into your plan. If something is missing, they will tell you what they still need.
If SDA is included, you will be invited to a plan meeting with an NDIA planner, who will explain the decisions behind your plan. If it is not included, the NDIA has to tell you why, and you can request a review of that decision. A knock back at the first attempt is not the end of the road, and it is often an evidence problem rather than a needs problem.
Once you have SDA funding
With SDA in your plan, you can start looking. There are a few ways to find a home:
- The NDIS SDA finder, where you can search by location, building type and price
- A referral from your support coordinator or recovery coach
- Recommendations from family, friends or other participants
- Providers directly, including the homes listed on this site
When you find somewhere, you will record the provider on your plan and sign a written service agreement that sets out your rent contribution.
Where we fit in
Better Living Solutions is an NDIS registered SDA provider. We build and manage SDA homes across New South Wales and Victoria, and we work with SIL provider partners who deliver the support inside them.
We cannot approve SDA funding and we cannot influence the NDIA decision. What we can do is show you what our homes look like in detail, tell you honestly whether a property suits the design category and support needs you have described, and put you in touch with the SIL provider at that home. If you are still waiting on a decision, you are welcome to look and to ask questions.
Common questions
How do I apply for SDA housing?
There is no application form for SDA and you do not apply to a housing provider. SDA is a decision made about your NDIS plan. You ask the NDIA to include it, either at your plan reassessment or by requesting a change of circumstances if your housing needs have changed, and you give the NDIA recent evidence from a treating health professional, usually an occupational therapist. The NDIA's home and living team assesses the request against the SDA Rules 2020. Once SDA funding is in your plan, with a design category and a dwelling type, you can start looking at homes and we can help you from there.
Source: NDIS: Home and living
What evidence do I need for an SDA application?
The NDIA asks for recent evidence from a treating health professional that covers three things: what you can and cannot do because of your disability and how that affects where and how you live; your daily support needs, including when during the day and night you need help; and the other home and living options you have already explored and why they do not meet your needs. The NDIA publishes a Home and Living supporting evidence form that sets out exactly what it wants to see, and an occupational therapist's housing assessment written to that form is the strongest evidence you can give. Letters from your support coordinator or current provider help, but they do not replace the assessment.
How long does an SDA application take?
The NDIA does not publish a fixed timeframe for SDA decisions, and the time depends on the quality of the evidence and whether the home and living team has to come back to you for more. In our experience the requests that come back fastest are the ones that arrive complete: an occupational therapist's housing assessment, the supporting evidence form, and a clear statement of the design category and living arrangement being asked for. Ask your support coordinator to confirm the request has been logged and to note the reference number, and follow up if you have not heard within a few weeks. A thorough report at the start is the single biggest thing you can do to avoid delay.
What if my SDA application is refused?
The NDIA must tell you why it did not fund what you asked for, and you have the right to ask for an internal review of that decision under section 100 of the NDIS Act. You have three months from the day you receive the decision to ask. A refusal is very often about gaps in the evidence rather than your level of need, so before you lodge the review, ask your occupational therapist to address the specific reasons the NDIA gave. If the internal review does not change the outcome, you can take the decision to the Administrative Review Tribunal. Support coordinators and advocacy services can help with both steps.
Source: NDIS Act 2013, section 100
Written by Khen Huynh, Director, Better Living Solutions, an NDIS registered SDA provider. Last reviewed 7 September 2026.
Talk to us
Whether you have SDA funding already or you are still working through the process, you are welcome to get in touch or look through the homes we have available.