Housing and Support Needs

Occupational Therapy Assessments

Albury-Wodonga | Ballarat | Bendigo | Geelong | Warrnambool | Western Melbourne

Looking to explore housing options or daily living support in your life?

Your Allied Therapy Services Occupational Therapist (OT) can assess your needs and make recommendations on housing and support models that will help you achieve your goals for everyday living. 

You may wish to explore occupational therapy support for housing or daily living support if you are: 

  • Looking to live independently for the first time 

  • Wanting to explore the support you require to live in mainstream housing (be that your own home, private rental or affordable housing) 

  • Wanting to explore if you are eligible for NDIS funded Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA)

  • Wanting to explore if you are eligible for a NDIS funded Independent Living Options (ILO) support package or Supported Independent Living (SIL) funding 

  • Experiencing changes in your informal support network and wanting to introduce or increase access to formal supports in your home or community  

  • Requiring a change to your current formal supports and needing additional evidence to present to a funding body. 

Before we get into some more detail, let’s be frank

Navigating housing and daily support funding with the NDIS or other funding bodies can be confusing and complex at times.  

Below we provide you with some basic information so you can start to understand what is involved from an occupational therapy standpoint and hopefully this helps you understand some of what you need to do in this space!

Please note that the landscape changes regularly in this space, so we always recommend going back to the NDIS or your funding provider to ensure you are accessing the most up-to-date information for your needs. A helpful link to the NDIS is below.

About NDIS SDA and SIL Assessments

Your Allied Therapy Services Occupational Therapist can complete Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) and Supported Independent Living (SIL) assessments and recommendations for the NDIS. Please note that these assessments and recommendations are guided by strict eligibility criteria established by the NDIS.  

Specialist disability accommodation (SDA)

SDA is housing designed, built or modified for people with disability who have complex functional impairment and very high support needs.   

SDA homes have accessible features like wider doorways and larger living spaces, hoists, handrails or other specialist equipment that help residents live more independently.  They come in a range of design categories as categorised by the NDIS; Improved Liveability, Robust, Fully Accessible and High Physical Support.  

Your Occupational Therapist can help demonstrate you meet the eligibility criteria for SDA and which design category best suits your needs.  

Your Occupational Therapist will also explore your housing preferences with you. This could be living alone or with others as well as discussing how you like your support provided, as this will inform the type of building your OT recommends (be that an apartment, house or duplex/villa/unit). 

Refer to the NDIS Specialist disability accommodation webpage for more information. 

Supported Independent Living (SIL)

Supported Independent Living (SIL) is one type of support to help you live in your home. SIL funding provides help or supervision with daily tasks, like personal care, housework or cooking meals. Support through SIL means you live as independently as possible, while also building your skills. 

Supported independent living is designed for people with higher support needs. This means people who need some level of help at home all the time, including help throughout the day, 7 days a week. This also includes overnight support.  

Refer to the NDIS Supported independent living webpage to find out if SIL may be suitable for you.

Your initial appointment with your OT will help determine if you meet the eligibility for either SDA or SIL funding. 

Functional Capacity Assessments

If you do not meet the eligibility for either SDA or SIL funding, your Allied Therapy Services Occupational Therapist can still conduct Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) for you. 

What is a Functional Capacity Assessment?

A FCA assesses how well you can do daily tasks at home, at work, or in the community. A FCA may be used to provide evidence of your eligibility for the NDIS or to demonstrate your overall support and therapy needs.  

A FCA is often requested if you are new to the scheme or have experienced a substantial change in your circumstances. The reporting from your Functional Capacity Assessment will outline the pathways and support you'll need to achieve your goals. 

These assessments can form part of the evidence needed to demonstrate the support you need to live independently. This may include making NDIS funding recommendations for social or recreation support, personal care support, group program support or supported employment. 

How do OT assessments for Housing and Support needs work?

It’s good to be aware that the path to achieving your support and housing goals can be a complex and lengthy one, but from an occupational therapy perspective, Allied Therapy Services is here to support you to reach your goals!

Your Occupational Therapist will need to conduct a range of assessments, compile evidence and make recommendations to submit to a funding body like the NDIS. 

You can expect either all or some of the following to happen during the assessment process: 

  • An interview with you and your current supports about your goals, housing and support preferences, your needs, your capacity to live alone or with others and your long-term vision for how you live.

  • Functional observation of you in your home and community to understand when and how you are best supported 

  • Standardised Occupational Therapy measures and assessments that can provide additional evidence. 

  • Non-standardised tools may also be used – for example a behavioral incident log, sleep/night-time awake logs, or a chart to record the level of verbal prompting required to undertake tasks. 

Following your assessment, a report is written that brings together all the evidence and will make recommendations to a funding body regarding your housing and support needs. This report will be discussed with you and your family, friends or support coordinator before submission. 

Important things to note

If you are seeking a change to your housing or support funding within your NDIS plan you must let the NDIS know by completing the following: 

NDIS Home and Living Supporting Evidence Form

Occupational Therapy services are funded out of your Improved Daily Living budget. You will require sufficient funding to cover the assessment and report. It is typically expected that Allied Therapy Services would require the following hours of funding: 

  • 10-20 hours for Functional Capacity Assessment or Support Needs Assessments (time required is dependent on the level of support being recommended, a higher level of support requires higher levels of evidence, so more time is required to conduct assessments)  

  • 20 hours of OT for NDIS SIL assessment and report writing 

  • 20 hours of OT for NDIS SDA assessment and report writing 

  • 30 hours of OT for Combined NDIS SDA and SIL assessment and report writing. 

NOTE: the above is an estimate only and can vary from person to person. Hours not used, would not be billed. 

How to refer to Allied Therapy Services for OT housing or support needs

You can self-refer to our OT services (no health professional referral required).

We accept referrals for clients aged 16 years and older, NDIS or private referrals accepted. 

Please note our team of highly skilled OTs are able to work with you in the following regions; Albury-Wodonga, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Warrnambool and the Western Melbourne suburbs. If you are outside our regions, please ask our team about alternative service options.