NDIS Disability Accommodation Explained: SDA vs SIL vs STA

Three supports that are easy to confuse

When people talk about NDIS disability accommodation, they usually mean one of three things, and they are often mixed up because they can appear in the same plan and even the same house:

• Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is the home itself: a building designed for people with very high support needs.
• Supported Independent Living (SIL) is the paid support you receive in your home, such as help with personal care and cooking.
• Short Term Accommodation (STA) is a short stay away from home, mainly so the family or friends who support you can have a break.

A simple way to hold it in your head: SDA is the bricks and mortar, SIL is the people helping you inside, and STA is the occasional stay somewhere else. You might have one, two or all three, or none of them.

Which one fits your situation

	SDA	SIL	STA
What it is	Specialised housing	Support with daily tasks at home	A short stay away from home
Main question it answers	Where do I live?	Who helps me day to day?	How do my carers get a break?
Who it is for	People with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs	People who need a support worker 24 hours a day, including overnight	Participants whose informal supports (usually family or friends) need a break
What it does not cover	The support you receive in the home	Rent and day-to-day costs like groceries	Your long-term home or ongoing support
Who provides it	A registered SDA provider, in an enrolled dwelling	A registered SIL provider	An STA provider (a facility, short stay rental or similar)

The sections below explain each one, with links to the official NDIS pages so you can check the detail for yourself.

SDA: the home

Specialist Disability Accommodation is a range of housing designed for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. The NDIS describes it on its page what is specialist disability accommodation.

Who is eligible. The NDIS works through three eligibility questions for SDA. The first is whether you have an extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. In plain terms, that means you need substantial help from another person with things like moving around, self-care or managing daily life, even with assistive technology or home modifications, or you need person-to-person support for a large part of the day. Meeting that first test is not enough on its own: you also need to meet an SDA needs requirement and the NDIS funding criteria. The NDIA may ask for a report from an allied health professional, such as an occupational therapist.

How it is funded. SDA funding is included in your plan and pays for the housing. You still pay rent and bills, such as electricity, according to the NDIS. The NDIA's SDA guideline calls the rent a reasonable rent contribution, sets a maximum for it, and says the amount should be in your service agreement or a separate rental agreement, so ask the provider to show you how they worked out your amount before you agree to it.

Who provides it. SDA providers must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and each home must be enrolled with the NDIA before it can be used as SDA, as set out on the NDIS SDA dwelling enrolment page. It is worth asking any SDA provider to confirm both.

The key point many families miss: SDA funding does not pay for support workers. If you need help in the home, that is funded separately, often as SIL.

SIL: the support inside the home

Supported Independent Living is help with daily tasks in your home, such as personal care and cooking, with a focus on building your skills. The NDIS SIL page describes it as funding for a support worker to help or supervise you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including overnight, with help with daily activities for at least 8 of those hours. You may share a support worker with housemates or have your own, although if you live alone and SIL does not meet your needs, another home and living support may suit you better.

SIL funding cannot be used for rent or day-to-day costs like groceries. Those are yours to pay, whether you live in SDA, a private rental or a home you own.

From 1 July 2026, providers delivering SIL must be registered with the NDIS Commission. Providers already delivering SIL had until 1 October 2026 to apply, and the NDIA says SIL can now only be delivered by providers that are registered or applied before that date. A provider that did not apply must stop delivering SIL. The details are on the Commission's mandatory registration page for SIL.

We have a full guide to SIL, covering who qualifies, what it pays for and how to find a vacancy: Supported Independent Living (SIL) explained.

How SDA and SIL fit together

SDA and SIL are separate supports, funded separately, and they can come from different providers. The NDIA's SDA guideline says you will generally choose a different SDA provider from your other supports, and that your SDA provider must let you change your other providers at any time. One organisation might own the SDA home while another delivers the SIL support in it. That separation is useful: if you are unhappy with your support, changing your SIL provider does not have to mean moving house.

Not everyone with SIL lives in SDA. Plenty of people receive SIL in an ordinary rental or a family-owned home. What matters is that each support is in your plan in its own right.

STA: short stays and respite

Short Term Accommodation is funded support that lets you spend time away from your usual informal supports, usually family or friends, so they can have a break while someone else supports you. The NDIS explains it on its short-term accommodation page.

According to the NDIA's short-term accommodation guideline:

• a stay is at least one night
• STA is generally funded for up to 14 days at a time, and up to 28 days a year
• it can happen in an accommodation facility, hotel, motel, short stay rental, cabin, cottage, homestay, or your own home
• the stay generally needs to be in your home state or territory.

You may also see it called "short term respite". The NDIA renamed it in October 2025, and its current guideline uses "short-term accommodation" again. If a provider or planner uses either name, they mean the same support.

STA is mainly for people who live with family or friends who support them. If you already receive a large amount of paid support at home, such as SIL, ask your planner or support coordinator whether STA is likely to suit your plan.

How vacancies work

This is where most of the waiting happens, and the three supports work differently.

SDA vacancies are tied to specific homes. The NDIS runs an SDA Finder where providers advertise vacancies, which you can filter by building type, design category, number of residents and price, then contact the provider directly. Two cautions from the NDIS itself: not every vacancy is advertised there, and the building type and location usually need to line up with what is in your plan. Before you fall in love with a home, check it matches your plan.

SIL vacancies are usually a room in a shared home, where the provider is looking for someone whose needs and personality suit the existing housemates. Meeting the household matters as much as the room.

STA is booked rather than "vacant". Providers take bookings for particular dates, so it pays to ask early, especially around school holidays.

For all three, a support coordinator, if you have one in your plan, can help you search, contact providers and line things up with your funding.

Finding a provider near you

CareLocate is built from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission's public register and covers more than 6,000 businesses. You can search by suburb and support type, or browse providers by location. Where a provider has told us whether they are taking new clients, the listing shows it, with the date they last confirmed.

If you would rather describe what you need and have it passed on for you, use Find Care. Whichever route you take, ask each provider the same three questions: is this SDA, SIL or STA, are you registered for it, and how does it line up with what is in my plan?