NDIS supported independent living, usually called SIL, is a package of paid personal supports for eligible people who need significant assistance or supervision at home, including support across the day and, where required, overnight. SIL funds the support a person receives. It does not ordinarily pay rent, groceries, utilities or the physical home itself.
SIL is commonly delivered in shared homes where participants share some support, although the NDIS may fund individual arrangements in limited circumstances. It is only one home and living option. Assistance with daily life, Individualised Living Options, home modifications, assistive technology or other supports may be more suitable depending on the person’s needs and preferred living arrangement.
What is NDIS supported independent living?
NDIS supported independent living is designed for people who need substantial person-to-person assistance to live as independently as possible. The current NDIS SIL guidance explains that funding depends on disability support needs and can include shared or individual support. SIL is generally associated with help throughout the day, seven days a week, including overnight support where required.
Support can include personal care, meal preparation, cleaning routines, medication assistance, supervision, safety support, implementation of behaviour support plans, skill development and assistance with some non-routine community access. The exact package must reflect the participant’s assessed needs and plan.
What SIL does not pay for
SIL funding is for eligible support, not ordinary household expenses. Rent, board, groceries, electricity, water, internet, vehicle costs and other everyday living expenses are generally paid separately.
Specialist Disability Accommodation is also different from SIL. SDA relates to eligible housing for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs, while SIL relates to support delivered in the home.
Keeping accommodation and support costs clear is essential. Before agreeing to a home, participants and families should receive understandable information about rent or board, utilities, household contributions, support charges, notice periods and which organisation is responsible for each agreement.
Who may be suited to NDIS supported independent living?
SIL may suit an adult who needs significant daily assistance, supervision or overnight support and wants to live in a shared or individual arrangement supported by a registered SIL provider. It may not be the best fit for someone who needs only a few hours of support each week or wants to recruit, direct and roster their own support workers.
The decision should be based on the person’s real support needs and preferred way of living, not simply the availability of a vacancy. Evidence may include recent assessments and reports explaining functional capacity, risks, current supports, goals, overnight needs and why the proposed arrangement is appropriate.
The NDIS guidance on asking for home and living supports explains that relevant professional evidence may be required.
Questions to ask before choosing a SIL home
- Who would the participant live with, and how is compatibility assessed?
- Can the participant visit more than once and meet housemates and workers?
- Which supports are shared and which are provided individually?
- How are active nights, sleepovers and unexpected needs managed?
- How much choice does the participant have over routines, meals and visitors?
- What happens if a housemate or worker match is not suitable?
- How are rent, utilities, groceries and support charges separated?
- What notice periods apply to the service and accommodation agreements?
- How are incidents, complaints and changes in support needs communicated?
- How does the provider maintain continuity when regular workers are unavailable?
These questions help establish whether a vacancy is a genuine match. A vacant room alone is not enough. The support model, housemate compatibility, location, communication, safeguards and everyday routines all matter.
Choice and compatibility in shared SIL
Sharing support should not remove a participant’s right to make decisions about daily life. People should be involved in choosing where they live, who they live with and how support is delivered. Compatibility involves more than age or diagnosis. Sleep patterns, communication, sensory preferences, visitors, cultural practices, interests, routines and approaches to shared spaces can affect whether a home works.
A careful matching process may include conversations, visits, shared activities and a trial period where appropriate. The participant should have accessible information and enough time to consider the option without pressure.
Supported Independent Living (SIL) is one of the most talked-about and most misunderstood parts of the NDIS. It’s not a type of house, it’s not automatic once you turn 18, and it’s not the same as SDA (which funds the building itself). This guide separates the concepts and walks through what actually needs to happen to move into a SIL arrangement.
SIL, SDA and ILO: three different things
SIL (Supported Independent Living) funds the support – staff helping with daily tasks, supervision, skill-building – inside a home. SDA (Specialist Disability Accommodation) funds the physical dwelling itself, for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs.
ILO (Individualised Living Options) is a more flexible, individually designed living arrangement, often costing less than SIL and built around a person’s specific goals rather than a standard shared-house roster model.
Many participants only need one of these, not all three – an ILO with no SIL is common, and SIL without SDA (in a private rental) is common too.
Who SIL actually suits
SIL suits people who need help available in the home across parts or all of the day – with things like personal care, meal preparation, medication, or safety supervision – and where that help is more efficient delivered to a small group of housemates sharing overnight or rostered support, rather than one-to-one in isolation.
How SIL funding is assessed
The NDIA looks at a Roster of Care – a breakdown of exactly what support is needed, hour by hour, across a typical week – built by an SIL provider or support coordinator. This is then quoted and submitted for approval. It’s a detailed process, and rushing it tends to produce a roster that doesn’t actually match real need, which causes problems later.
Finding a home and housemates
Vacancies in existing SIL homes come up when a housemate moves out, and suitability is assessed both ways – the participant needs to fit the household’s support model, and the household needs to fit the participant’s needs and personality. Building a brand-new SIL arrangement from scratch (rather than filling an existing vacancy) takes longer but allows more say over location and housemates.
What to confirm before agreeing to anything
Before signing on to a SIL arrangement, get clarity on: the exact roster of care and how it was costed, who else lives in the home and their support needs, how disputes or incompatibility between housemates get handled, what happens if your support needs change, and the actual condition and accessibility of the property itself.
Common points of confusion
People are often told a SIL home is available with real availability, location, staffing model and suitability criteria clearly laid out – but “available” doesn’t mean guaranteed.
Funding approval, household compatibility and a formal agreement all still need to happen before a move-in date is real. Providers who create urgency around a vacancy without being upfront about this are worth being cautious of.
Moving in
Once a Roster of Care is funded and a home is confirmed, expect a transition period – trial visits, a gradual handover of support, and time to settle into the household’s existing routines. Rushing this stage is one of the most common reasons a placement doesn’t work out.
How SIL funding is actually assessed
SIL funding isn’t automatic – it requires a specific assessment process where the NDIA looks at your support needs across a typical day and night, usually informed by a report from an occupational therapist or other relevant allied health professional. This assessment determines not just whether you’re eligible for SIL, but what ratio of support you need – anything from a few hours a day to 24/7 support with multiple staff overnight.
Because this assessment has such a large impact on your funding and quality of life, it’s worth taking seriously: get a properly detailed functional assessment, be honest about your needs on both good and bad days, and don’t understate your support needs just to seem more independent than you are day to day. Underestimating needs at this stage tends to create real problems later, when funding doesn’t match reality and a review is needed to fix it.
SIL vs other accommodation supports
SIL is often confused with other similarly-named supports, but the differences matter. Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funds the physical building or dwelling itself, for participants with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs – SIL and SDA are separate funding streams and having one doesn’t automatically mean you have the other.
Individualised Living Options (ILO) is a more flexible, less prescriptive alternative to SIL, designed around a person’s individual living preferences rather than a standard shared-housing model. Short Term Accommodation (STA, sometimes called respite) is different again – it’s temporary, not an ongoing living arrangement. Understanding which of these your plan actually includes (sometimes it’s more than one) avoids a lot of confusion when discussing options with providers.
Choosing a SIL home: what actually matters
When considering a specific SIL home, look beyond the physical property to the actual support model. Ask who else lives there and whether the household mix suits your needs and personality, what the staff-to-resident ratio is at different times of day, how compatible current residents’ support needs are with yours, and what happens if the mix doesn’t work out.
It’s also worth understanding the provider’s track record – how long staff typically stay, how they handle staff shortages, and what a resident’s day-to-day life actually looks like beyond the support hours themselves. For Canberra-specific guidance on evaluating a SIL home before committing, see what to confirm before moving into a SIL home in Canberra.
The difference between SIL and just having a housemate with support
SIL is specifically about shared support, not just shared housing. Two people could live in the same house, one with SIL funding and one without, and receive completely different support arrangements.
This matters when comparing options, because a “shared house” that isn’t structured as genuine SIL might not give you the rostered, funded support you’re expecting – always clarify explicitly whether a living arrangement is structured and funded as SIL, or whether it’s informal shared housing with separately arranged support.
Transitioning into SIL: what to expect
Moving into SIL, whether from the family home, another living arrangement, or independent living that’s no longer sustainable, is a significant transition and providers should treat it as one. Expect a settling-in period where support routines are adjusted based on what actually works once you’re living there day to day, rather than what looked right on paper during assessment.
A good provider treats the first few months as an active period of calibration, not a “set and forget” arrangement – regularly checking in on whether the support hours, staff mix, and household dynamic are actually working for you.
SIL and your broader support team
SIL doesn’t exist in isolation from the rest of your NDIS supports. If you also have support coordination funding, your coordinator should be actively involved in ensuring your SIL arrangement is delivering what it should – not just set up once and left alone.
Similarly, if daily living or community participation supports are part of your plan, these should complement your SIL arrangement rather than duplicate or conflict with it. Our guide to how NDIS support coordination works covers how a coordinator can help you get the most from a SIL arrangement specifically.
When a SIL arrangement isn’t working
Not every SIL placement works out, and knowing that change is possible is important. Signs a SIL arrangement isn’t right include a household mix that’s causing ongoing conflict, staffing so inconsistent that you don’t feel safe or supported, or a level of support that clearly doesn’t match your actual needs day to day.
Raising concerns directly with the provider first is the usual starting point, but if things don’t improve, requesting a plan review to explore alternative SIL arrangements is a legitimate and fairly common step. You don’t have to stay somewhere that isn’t working simply because moving feels disruptive.
Costs, rent, and what SIL doesn’t cover
SIL funding covers support staff, not rent or everyday living costs like food, utilities, and household bills – these remain the resident’s responsibility, generally covered through the Reasonable and Necessary Living Costs component and, in shared housing, split between residents.
This is a common point of confusion for families new to SIL: funding the support does not mean the accommodation itself is free. Understanding this distinction upfront – including what portion of a pension or income goes toward rent and living costs versus what’s separately funded through the NDIS – helps avoid unpleasant surprises once support actually begins.
How family involvement typically works
Moving into SIL doesn’t mean stepping away from family involvement – most successful arrangements involve family staying closely engaged, particularly during the transition period and at regular reviews.
Good providers actively welcome this involvement rather than treating family as outsiders to the support relationship, and will usually set up regular communication channels (scheduled updates, review meetings, or simply an open door for questions) so family can stay confident that support is working as intended, without needing to manage day-to-day details themselves.
Getting started with SIL
If you’re exploring SIL for the first time, the most useful starting point is usually a conversation with a provider about your specific situation, rather than trying to navigate the assessment and funding process alone.
A good provider can help you understand whether SIL is the right fit compared to other accommodation supports, what the assessment process will involve, and what a realistic timeline looks like from initial conversation to moving in. Get in touch to talk through what SIL could look like for your situation.
SIL and support coordination working together
SIL arrangements tend to work best when there’s active support coordination alongside them, rather than a set-and-forget approach. A coordinator can help monitor whether the household mix, staffing ratio, and daily support are actually delivering what your plan intended, and can push for changes if they’re not.
If you don’t currently have support coordination but are finding your SIL arrangement isn’t quite working as expected, it’s worth raising whether adding coordination funding at your next review would help – many families find that having someone actively monitoring the arrangement, rather than assuming it will self-correct, makes a meaningful difference to outcomes over time.
Making the decision with confidence
Choosing SIL, or reviewing an existing arrangement, is rarely a decision to make alone. Talking it through with a provider who can walk you through the assessment process, help you understand what different living options actually involve day to day, and answer specific questions about your circumstances tends to produce a much better outcome than researching in isolation.
Whatever stage you’re at – just starting to explore SIL, mid-assessment, or reconsidering a current arrangement – a direct conversation is usually the quickest way to get clarity.
Every family’s situation is different, and the right SIL arrangement for one person may be entirely wrong for another – which is exactly why a conversation grounded in your specific needs, rather than generic advice, is worth having before any commitment is made.
Reach out whenever you’re ready – there’s no need to have every question figured out in advance before starting that conversation.
The right living arrangement can genuinely transform day-to-day independence and quality of life, which is exactly why it’s worth getting right rather than settling for the first option that seems adequate.
Whatever questions remain, they’re worth asking before signing anything – a good provider would rather spend extra time upfront than have you commit to an arrangement that doesn’t genuinely suit your needs.
Talk to someone who can walk you through it
SIL is genuinely one of the more complex parts of the NDIS to navigate alone. If you’re weighing up whether SIL, SDA or ILO fits your situation, or trying to work out next steps for a current vacancy discussion, you can read more about SIL support through CCS or get in touch directly to talk through your specific circumstances.
NDIS supported independent living: practical questions
Is NDIS supported independent living the same as housing?
No. NDIS supported independent living funds eligible support delivered in the home. Rent and ordinary household costs are separate, and SDA is a different NDIS support.
Can NDIS supported independent living be provided when someone lives alone?
It may be funded in limited situations, but other home and living supports may be more suitable. The decision depends on assessed support needs, funding criteria and the participant’s circumstances.
Can a participant choose their SIL provider?
Once NDIS supported independent living is included in a plan, the participant can choose a registered provider and agree how funded support will be delivered.
