Funding for 500-900 New Properties Every Year with NDIS. Today the NDIA released the next step in the NDIS housing journey – a Position Paper on Draft Pricing and Payments.

The Position Paper sets out a draft position on key aspects of housing in the NDIS – including how much the NDIA will pay, how payments will be made and how organisations can register for NDIS housing payments.

The Position Paper is a set of draft proposals for community feedback. Written responses are due by 15 April and can be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The NDIA’s housing funding will begin to be released from 1 July 2016.

 Confirming what we suspected - Significant disability only.

NDIS funding for housing will only be for those with the most significant functional impairments. Participants need to demonstrate that their disability requires specialised disability accommodation – more detail on this will be made available in the coming months.

• Participant choice. The paper aims to maximise participant choice by separating housing from support (so people can change their support provider without moving house) and having housing funds attached to individuals (so they can move without losing their housing funds).

• Separating tenancy (housing bricks and mortar) from support. The Paper makes clear that the proposed model “as far as possible, explicitly separates provision of housing infrastructure from supply of supports”. Support providers will only be able to provide housing in exceptional circumstances.

• Occupancy risk. The NDIA’s position is that the vacancy risk will be borne by providers. This means that the NDIA will only make housing payments to the provider while a participant is living in the dwelling. In particular circumstance (not yet outlined) the NDIA may step in if the market fails and directly commission housing and take on vacancy risk.

• Yearly payments. The position paper confirms that the NDIA will be using yearly payments where providers get paid over the life of a building, rather than an upfront grant. Housing providers will need to ‘cash flow’ the cost of housing over lifetime of the housing.

• Group homes. the NDIA will not be paying for the construction of dwellings that accommodate more than 5 people with disability. There will be no more large group homes built in the NDIS.

 Posted by Luke Bo'sher  On April 3, 2016  Filed under Housing, NDIS