There are 4 building types if you’re new to specialist disability accommodation:
- 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.
How do we work out the right building type for you?
We look at your individual needs, and the features of each building type, when we work out the right building type for you. This might be a house, an apartment, or another type of building.
The best building type will depend on what other home and living supports you need. We also think about how many people you’d like to live with, what type of building you’d like to live in, and if it meets all the NDIS funding criteria.
Specialist disability accommodation may be accommodation that you share with others or you might live there alone.
When we work out the right building type for you, we’ll also look at how the building type would:
- help you get your other NDIS supports
- suit the type of home you want to live in, if it aligns with your goals
- help you become involved in your community
- help you to maintain or create relationships
- reduce any risks to you and others
- help your informal support network support you
- be more likely than another building type to improve outcomes for you.
Once the funding is in your plan, you can choose how to use it. Learn more about how you can use your specialist disability accommodation budget.
Living alone
You may prefer to live alone. Or you may need to live alone to reduce the risk of harm to yourself or others, or because of the specific supports you need. We’ll talk to you about any risks, including if you have support to help you take risks. We’ll discuss how you learn from your experience in managing risk and use this experience in your decisions. If you’re eligible for specialist disability accommodation support we’ll need to make sure that any NDIS support to live alone also meets the NDIS funding criteria.
If NDIS supports to live alone meet the NDIS funding criteria for you, one option for your specialist disability accommodation is living alone with shared onsite NDIS support.
What is living alone with shared onsite support?
A group of participants might each have their own home on the same site and share onsite NDIS support for a limited number of hours per day. They’ll have regular NDIS supports in place but may need to call the onsite shared NDIS support for assistance when they need unplanned support.
When we consider whether shared onsite NDIS support is right for you, we’ll look at your individual support needs. We’ll also need to make sure:
- you can use technology to call for assistance
- as a guide, you need up to an average of 2.5 hours of ad hoc person-to-person support per day, in addition to your planned activities of daily living support
- you can usually wait up to 60 minutes for unplanned NDIS support without this becoming a risk to your safety and wellbeing
- you understand the risks of living alone.
If you need specialist support or your needs change frequently, shared onsite NDIS support may be unable to meet your needs. We’ll talk to you about what other NDIS supports may be more suitable for you.
Example
Mary lives alone in a single bedroom specialist disability accommodation apartment building which has onsite support available. Other participants also live in the building and can use the onsite NDIS support. Mary has an active social life and enjoys catching up with friends whenever she can.
Mary needs help each day to complete most of her daily activities. A support worker helps her at the same times each day to get in and out of bed, into her powered wheelchair, prepare meals and with other household tasks. Mary can’t use the onsite NDIS support for these tasks. If Mary’s support worker can’t attend at the agreed time, the service agreement with her support provider sets out their responsibilities for another worker to support Mary. Mary doesn’t need to use the onsite NDIS support at these times.
There are times when Mary doesn’t need regular support and she spends time in her apartment alone. If Mary’s friends call unexpectedly to catch up for a coffee, she can ask the onsite NDIS support to help. The onsite support worker can help Mary get into her wheelchair for her catch up with friends.
Mary can use the call button next to her bed to call the onsite support worker. They will let Mary know if they can help her straight away or if she’ll need to wait for a short time.