There are many types of support available for people with disability. In this article, we’ll focus on two that are often confused: Specialised Disability Accommodation (SDA) and Supported Independent Living (SIL).
What is Supported Independent Living (SIL)?
SIL is a type of assistance provided by a worker who helps you with your daily tasks. Some of these tasks may include:
– Domestic assistance such as house cleaning and laundry
– Personal assistance such as showering and dressing
– Errands assistance such as grocery shopping or medical appointments
This support focuses on developing your skills and enhancing independent living. It doesn’t include support that is viewed as not enhancing your living goals, such as organising paperwork and bookkeeping.
When assessing eligibility, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) will look at your home and living goals as well as your support needs. They’ll consider your age, independent living skills and occupational therapy reports. Specifically, the NDIA considers SIL a suitable option if you require more than eight hours of direct support, like household cleaning and assistance with errands. It’s also recommended if the participant requires additional levels of support outside of working hours or requires support 24 hours per day.
What is Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)?
SDA is a type of housing that is specifically designed to help address the needs of people with disability. It can be in the form of houses, apartments and other types of dwellings, all of which are built and equipped with special design features.
SDA can include a wide range of design features which can be sorted into four types of categories known as SDA design categories: Improved Liveability (IL), Fully Accessible (FA), High Physical Support (HPS) and Robust. Each category has its own standards and criteria that allow for a more personalised living experience. For example, SDA under the HPS category requires a door opening of at least 95cm, while SDA under the FA category requires at least 90cm.
The NDIS will fund SDA if it’s the best option for your support needs when compared to other supports alone. To be eligible for SDA funding, you may require one or more of the following:
- Be an existing NDIS participant
- You must be under 65 years old
- You require someone else to help you complete daily tasks or,
- You need 1 on 1 assistance for a large portion of the day
Additionally, you may be eligible for funding if SDA housing would help you:
- Improve, maintain or prevent your functional capacity from getting worse.
- Lower the need for future support and help from others.
- Create better connections with informal (e.g. friends and family) and formal (e.g. health services, education and employment) support systems.
SIL vs. SDA: What are the Key Differences?
Exploring the difference between SIL and SDA can help you better understand how each service works and how they can be combined or accessed separately to suit your needs.
- Your SDA funding will pay for the actual property or the ‘bricks and mortar’ while the SIL funding will pay for the people who give you support.
- Both services are accessible separately or together, meaning SDA housing isn’t a requirement for receiving SIL assistance.
Difference in the Type of Support
Although SIL and SDA are both services that help people with disability live more independently, they offer different types of support.
- SIL assists with independence through the service provided by a worker. It’s support for daily activities such as cooking, cleaning, personal care, shopping and attending appointments.
- SDA is the home itself – the ‘bricks and mortar’. It can be houses, apartments and other types of dwellings that come with unique and accessible features, and they can even be equipped with Assistive Technology (AT) to assist with independent living.
Understanding Tenant Needs: SIL vs SDA
The needs of tenants in SIL and SDA vary. The table below highlights which needs are best addressed by each type of support.
| SIL | SDA |
| Needs assistance with daily tasks such as cleaning, hair styling and dressing.
Wants to build life skills such as managing routines. Requires someone available to assist with emergencies. Seeks independence with the help of a worker. |
Needs a home designed for accessibility and safety.
May need a living environment that supports physical or sensory needs. Needs a home designed to prevent injury or manage challenging behaviours. Seeks independence through design features such as open-plan living space. |
Limitations of SIL
Depending on your NDIS plan, some SIL support is provided in a shared home. In this circumstance, a roster of care is implemented where hours of support are allocated to each participant in the shared home on a weekly schedule. This can become challenging if you need assistance outside your designated hours. For instance, if your allocated support hours are in the morning, but you need assistance in the evening due to an unexpected medical appointment, there may not be a support worker available during that time.
In shared homes with SIL support, the provider is typically fixed and comes as part of the arrangement. This means that if you want to switch to a different support provider, you may need to move to an entirely new home to make the change.
SDA, in comparison to SIL, has more flexibility as it’s separate from your support provider. SDA is funded by the NDIS for the ‘bricks and mortar’ alone. Any other support is provided separately. This allows for more flexibility when it comes to choosing your support. It also increases stability in your home since SDA focuses solely on the property itself – so you can remain familiar in your home even if your support arrangements change.
At Enliven Housing, our tenants have full choice and control over what Shared Onsite Support Provider (SOSP) they would like. Our Choice Collective (formerly known as the Community Cooperative) allows tenants to come together and discuss what options will work best for all. It also allows tenants to re-evaluate and potentially change providers if they’re not satisfied.
Can You Receive Both SIL and SDA Funding?
It’s possible to receive both SDA and SIL support at the same time. These supports will be funded separately in your NDIS plan, meaning you can manage them individually. This can also mean that if you no longer qualify for one type of funding, you can still have access to the other.
To access both supports, you must meet the specific NDIS eligibility criteria for each. The NDIA will assess your situation to ensure that each support provides meaningful benefits and helps maintain or improve your functional capacity. When doing so, the NDIS will look at allied health professional reports or reports about your daily support needs and goals.
If approved for both, this can help make your support services run smoothly and efficiently. It can be challenging for a worker to provide support safely in a space that doesn’t meet your needs. That’s why receiving SIL in an SDA home can make a big difference. For example, features like wider hallways and doorways can make it easier for both you and your support worker to move around comfortably.
Here at Enliven Housing, we are an SDA provider only. Although we don’t provide SIL support, our friendly team is more than happy to help assist you with more information and recommendations on other providers who do.
Choose Australia’s Most Trusted SDA Housing Provider
Above, we discussed and discovered that the main difference between SIL and SDA is the type of service and how it’s delivered:
- SDA: Refers to the physical home and its built-in features designed to support the resident’s needs.
- SIL: The intangible service provided by a support worker that promotes independence to the participant.
At Enliven Housing, we specialise exclusively in SDA services across NSW, VIC, ACT, WA, SA and QLD. While we don’t offer SIL support, our approachable team is always ready to provide you with more information and recommend other providers who do. If you think SDA is the best option for you, we encourage you to visit our SDA Guide or check out the SDA eligibility calculator.
We hope this article helped you understand the difference between SDA and SIL. If you have any further questions or enquiries, please feel free to contact us and one of our friendly staff can help.
