State-owned group homes in Western Australia will soon be enrolled as Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) properties under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
NDIS allows State-owned group homes to be enrolled as SDA, with 300-400 group homes expected to be enrolled.
The Department of Communities (Communities) currently manages 35 homes, with the remainder managed by disability and community housing providers.
Initially, Communities will enrol the homes that are currently managed by the agency, enabling some 150 NDIS participants to access their SDA entitlements.
Communities will continue to work with the community housing and disability sector providers to facilitate the enrolment of the remaining State-owned group homes.
Once all State-owned group homes are enrolled it is expected to generate approximately $4 million of SDA funding entitlements into WA annually that will directly benefit people with disability who need a specialised housing solution due to their high support needs.
Funding generated through SDA will be invested to modify, maintain, refurbish and redevelop existing group homes, or build additional SDA.
To inform the transition to SDA, Communities established an SDA Reference Group, comprising people with disability, disability advocacy groups, peak bodies, DevelopmentWA and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
A Technical Advisory Group, comprising the 14 community housing and disability sector providers who are currently managing State-owned groups, Shelter WA, National Disability Services WA and the NDIA, was established to provide input, particularly around the enrolment of State-owned homes.
Consultation has also been undertaken with housing industry representatives, private SDA providers and representatives from the SDA Alliance, an alliance of new build SDA providers.
