NDIS Capacity Building: Improved Living Arrangements

A comfortable, appropriate living arrangement is essential for a good quality of life. As an NDIS participant, the right housing can help you enjoy living independently and increase the choices and options that are available to you. Individualised housing may be more inclusive than a group home or other supported living arrangement, enabling you to be integrated in your community and access more informal supports. 

How Can You Get ‘Improved Living Arrangements’ Included in Your NDIS Budget? 

In order to access funding for this capacity-building support item, you’ll need to include relevant goals in your NDIS plan. Usually, this funding is used to help you find and move into a new living arrangement, so you should include a goal of moving to a new home in your plan. 

Your plan will also need to explain why you need to change your current living arrangement. It should discuss what is lacking in your current housing situation and how a different living arrangement will improve your independence or quality of life.  

If possible, it’s also helpful to include a note from your GP about your housing needs. This can discuss how your disability affects your housing needs and what type of living arrangement would be most appropriate for you. 

What Can You Purchase With Your ‘Improved Living Arrangements’ Support?  

Once it’s in your NDIS budget, you can use the ‘Improved Living Arrangements’ support item for a variety of supports and services. 

The main purpose of this support is to help you find, obtain, and maintain housing, so the money can be used for any activities that will help you achieve that goal. You can use it for help with finding a home, including deciding on an appropriate rental budget based on your income, searching housing listings, and visiting homes. Depending on your needs and your type of disability, this funding could pay for someone to do these activities for you or to help you accomplish them yourself. 

This support item can also be used for obtaining housing. This could include filling out a rental application, gathering the paperwork you need to prove your income and other qualifying information, or negotiating your rental agreement. These funds can provide support to help you with reaching out to housing agents, adjusting a rental agreement if this is necessary for your disability, and obtaining a lease. 

Finally, these support funds can be used to help you maintain your tenancy. This could include a broad range of activities, including communicating with your landlord and meeting any ongoing obligations. For example, this support money could be used for therapeutic help with managing relationships with neighbors if interactions with them could affect your tenancy. 

What Cannot Be Purchased With ‘Improved Living Arrangements’ Supports? 

Like all NDIS supports, these funds cannot be used for ordinary household expenses that everyone has to pay. This means they cannot be used for the cost of rent. If you have to pay higher prices for specialised housing due to your disability, you may be able to obtain funding for those additional expenses through your TK support budget. 

Like most NDIS funds, this support item can be used for direct services, non-face-to-face services, provider travel, last-minute cancellations, or participant activity transport. 

The price limits are based on an hourly rate of a support worker. Since these supports can usually be scheduled at a time convenient for you and the worker, these price limits do not vary by time of day.