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09 January 2025

Understanding NDIS home and living supports.

Key points

  • The NDIS provides a range of home and living supports that can help you live independently.
  • Home and living supports cover specific supports like help with personal care but excludes general living expenses.
  • When requesting home and living supports, provide clear evidence that explains your needs and circumstances.

When it comes to home and living, supports are available to help you achieve greater independence and live in an environment that meets your needs.

Home and living supports look different for everyone but may include services or items the NDIS will fund as well as those you may be able to access through the housing or other systems.

Examples of home and living supports include getting help with everyday tasks, assistance with finding housing, modifications to make a home more accessible and respite care.

Home and living supports in the NDIS.

Depending on your needs and circumstances, the NDIS may provide funding for some of the following home and living supports.

How to get NDIS home and living supports.

First up, it’s a good idea to talk to your planner or local area coordinator (LAC). They can advise you of the recommended next steps. There are several ways to get home and living supports including in your NDIS Plan:

  1. Include a goal about home and living in your NDIS Plan.
    For example: “I want to live more independently in a home that meets my accessibility needs and allows me to develop my daily living skills.” If home and living supports are considered reasonable and necessary, your planner will discuss them with you in your plan reassessment. They’re likely to discuss your full range of housing and living options as well as other supports that will help you to live independently such as informal assistance from family, friends or community networks
  2. Request a change of your NDIS Plan.If you need to change your NDIS Plan to include home and living supports, you can contact the NDIS at any time. You can do this by completing a change of circumstances form, calling 1800 800 110 or sending an email to enquiries@ndis.gov.au.

Supporting evidence and information.

When requesting home and living supports, it’s important to provide clear evidence that explains your needs and circumstances to help the NDIS assess your situation.

If you’re requesting home and living supports for the first time, your evidence should include:

  • Your daily support and housing needs, detailing how often and when you need support
  • Your functional capacity, which means what you can and can’t do because of your disability, and how this affects your daily life and housing needs
  • The other home and living options you’ve considered and why they don’t meet your disability-related support needs.

If you’re asking to change home and living supports already in your plan, your evidence should be recent (after your last NDIS Plan was approved) and explain:

  • Major changes to your daily support and housing needs including any new tasks you can or can’t manage on your own.
  • Updates to your functional capacity and how these changes impact your daily life and housing needs.

There is a supporting evidence form that you can complete to provide more information. It’s not required but ensures the NDIS has all the information needed to make a decision.

Home and living costs the NDIS may fund.

The NDIS may provide funding for NDIS supports to assist you to achieve greater independence. These include:

  • Capacity building to help you develop skills for independent living, such as money management, social skills and household management
  • Home modifications to improve accessibility and safety in your home or rental property
  • Assistive technology to support independence and daily activities
  • Help to find and maintain suitable housing
  • Support with personal care and day-to-day tasks such as assistance with showering, dressing, cleaning or laundry.

Home and living costs the NDIS won’t fund.

The NDIS won’t fund goods and services that are not NDIS supports including:

  • Day-to-day living costs such as rent, groceries, utilities and household items
  • Purchase of land, or house and land packages
  • Standard household (including garden) items, appliances, tools and products
  • Standard furniture, fixtures or fittings
  • Mobile homes, caravans, campervans and tents
  • Housing for people with disability other than those eligible for specialist disability accommodation.

Supports provided by housing and other systems.

  • Social and community housing
  • Homeless and emergency accommodation services
  • Commonwealth Rent Assistance that helps with the cost of housing.

Leap in! can help.

If you think home and living supports may be right for you, it’s a good idea to have plan management included in your NDIS Plan.

As Australia’s leading plan manager, Leap in! can help you make the most of your home and living supports,, connect you with providers and manage provider payments on your behalf.

Further reading

What is Supported Independent Living? Plus how to get your FREE SIL ebook.

Budget categories explained: Improved Daily Living

Supported Independent Living Update.

 

Published 16 December 2021, reviewed and updated 9 January 2025.

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