Supported Independent Living (SIL) is the part of the NDIS that pays for support workers in your home, usually a shared house, for most of the day and overnight. It is the largest single budget many participants will ever have, and the most misunderstood. This guide explains what it covers, how the NDIA decides, what a Roster of Care is, and what to expect from the first request to moving day, from the point of view of a Perth SIL provider that leases homes around the people who will live in them.

What SIL actually pays for

SIL pays for people, not property. It funds the support workers who help with personal care, cooking, cleaning, medication, getting to appointments, managing money and the daily decisions of running a home. It usually means workers rostered to the house for most of the day, with a sleepover or an active night shift.

It does not pay for rent, food, utilities or furniture. Those are ordinary living costs that every tenant pays. If a person needs a specially designed or built home, that is a separate funding stream called Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), paid to a housing provider. Most people in SIL do not have SDA and live in an ordinary rented house.

Who is eligible for SIL?

The NDIA funds SIL where a person needs support most of the day, every day, and where shared or supported living is the most reasonable and necessary way to deliver it. In practice that means a person with an intellectual disability, psychosocial disability, autism or acquired brain injury who needs help with several daily tasks and benefits from someone being there overnight.

People who need a few hours of support a day, or support only at set times, are usually funded through in-home supports or an Individualised Living Option (ILO) instead. The NDIA calls the whole area Home and Living supports, and it is worth using that phrase when you ask.

How the funding is decided: the Home and Living request

1. The request. You or your support coordinator complete a Home and Living supports request. It sets out your current living situation, why it is not working, what you want, and why SIL rather than drop-in support is reasonable and necessary.
2. The evidence. An occupational therapist’s functional assessment and a housing or living options report carry the most weight. Reports from your GP, psychologist or behaviour support practitioner help. The NDIA wants to see what support you need across a whole day, not a list of diagnoses.
3. The Roster of Care. Once the NDIA agrees in principle, the provider prepares a Roster of Care with you: a table of the support hours the home needs across weekdays, weekends and nights, and how they are shared between housemates. The NDIA uses it to set your SIL budget.
4. The decision. Your plan is updated with a Home and Living budget. SIL is claimed weekly against the approved roster, not by the hour like other supports.

What to look for in a SIL provider

• Who chooses the house. Many providers fill vacancies in homes they already run. Ask whether the provider will lease a home around you instead, so the suburb, layout and housemates fit the person.
• Who the housemates are. You should meet them before you decide, and there should be a way out if it does not work.
• How rosters are built. Around what each person actually does on each day, not around the house.
• What happens overnight and after hours. Ask who answers the phone at 2am and what they are allowed to decide.
• How behaviour support plans are handled. Every worker should be trained in the plan before their first shift, and restrictive practices used only where lawfully authorised and reported to the NDIS Commission.
• What records you can see. Shift notes and incident reports should be available to you and the people you nominate, and only with your consent to anyone else.
• Registration. Check the provider on the NDIS Commission register for Daily Tasks/Shared Living and Supported Independent Living.

How long does it take?

The NDIA decision is the slow part. Allow two to four months from a complete request to a plan with SIL in it, and longer if reports are missing. The provider’s part is faster: once funding is approved, leasing and furnishing a home and building the roster can take a few weeks. Where a person is leaving hospital or custody on a known date, start the request as early as the discharge or release date is known.

SIL after hospital, custody or a placement that broke down

Some of the hardest SIL placements are the most urgent: a person leaving hospital with no home to go to, a person being released on parole with a residence condition, or a person whose current provider has given notice. These need a provider that can lease a home on demand, roster workers trained in trauma-informed practice, and work with the discharge team, lawyer or Community Corrections officer on the plan. Our justice support page explains how we do it for people leaving custody.

Frequently asked questions

Is SIL the same as a group home?

SIL is the funding for support in a shared or single-person home. A group home is one way of using it. The NDIS now prefers smaller homes of two to four people, and SIL for one person living alone is possible where it is reasonable and necessary.

Who pays the rent in a SIL home?

You do, from your own income, usually the Disability Support Pension and Commonwealth Rent Assistance. SIL funds the support workers, not the house.

What is a Roster of Care?

A table showing the hours of support the home needs across weekdays, weekends and nights, and how those hours are shared between housemates. The NDIA uses it to set each person’s SIL budget.

How long does a Home and Living decision take?

It varies. Allow two to four months from a complete request to a decision, and longer if reports are missing or the NDIA asks for more evidence.

Can I change SIL provider?

Yes. Your funding belongs to you. Give notice under your service agreement, and the new provider submits a new Roster of Care.

This guide is general information from a registered NDIS provider in Perth, current at October 2026. It is not legal or financial advice. Check the current NDIS Operational Guidelines and talk to your support coordinator or planner about your own plan.