NDIS Guides

SIL House: What It Is and What Living in One Is Like

Name: 1 Care Connect
Address: Rosehill, NSW, 2142, AU
Telephone: 1300 264 942

October 5, 2026

A SIL house is a home where someone gets supported independent living, usually shared with other NDIS participants. The name sounds like a type of building, but the NDIS funds the support inside the home, not the home itself. This guide explains what a SIL house really means, who it suits, who you live with, what you pay for yourself, and how to find one. Every fact comes from the NDIS.

Quick summary

“SIL house” is an everyday name, not an NDIS term. It means a home where you get supported independent living.
SIL is funding for support workers who help or supervise you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
SIL does not pay rent, groceries or bills. You pay those yourself.
It is your choice who you live with and how many people share your home.
Your registered SIL provider must give you a tenancy agreement.
The NDIS does not fund vacancies, so a housemate moving out should not raise your costs.

What is a SIL house?

The NDIS does not use the term “SIL house”. Instead, it describes supported independent living as funding for a support worker to help or supervise you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So when people say SIL house, SIL home or SIL accommodation, they usually mean a home where that support happens.

This difference matters. SIL follows the person, not the property. According to the NDIS guideline, you can get SIL if you live with other participants, with people who are not participants, or on your own. In practice, though, it is usually funded when you live with other participants and share support with them.

The NDIS also cannot fund housing, except for specialist disability accommodation. By housing, it means the building itself, like a house or an apartment. Many people buy or rent their own home, and state and territory governments are responsible for helping people with housing. For a full picture of the support itself, see our page on supported independent living.

Who a SIL house is for

SIL is best suited to people with higher support needs. The NDIS says it may suit you if you need a support worker to:

stay with you 24 hours a day, including overnight
help you with daily activities for at least 8 of those hours
give you some level of help or supervision for the other hours.

SIL is generally only for people aged 18 or older. It is not for people who only need a few hours of support each day or week. It is also not for people who manage their own supports, including rostering their own workers. In those cases, personal care supports may suit you better.

Who you live with in a SIL house

The NDIS guideline is clear that it is your choice who you live with, and who you share your supports with. You might choose to live with other participants you already know. Alternatively, you might move into share housing designed for people with disability.

Most people do not need 24 hour individual support, so they share support with housemates. For example, if you live with more than 2 other participants, one support worker might support 2 participants. Or 2 support workers might support 4 participants. Your funding is based on your support needs, not your living arrangements.

Some people cannot share support because of their needs. In limited situations, the NDIS may fund one-to-one SIL instead.

What support workers do in a SIL house

SIL aims to help you live as independently as possible while you build your skills. According to the NDIS guideline, it may include support:

with personal care tasks, like showering and getting dressed
to build skills in meal preparation, cooking, cleaning and developing a routine
to put any behaviour support plan into practice
to develop your social skills
with supervision, personal safety and security
to give you your medication
to attend medical appointments
for community access that is not routine or regular.

Overnight support depends on your needs. If you need up to 2 hours of awake support a night, the NDIS funds sleepover support. If you regularly need more than that, it funds active overnight support, where a worker stays awake. In addition, SIL funding includes an average of 12 public holidays a year.

What you pay for yourself in a SIL house

This part is easy to miss. SIL funding does not cover day-to-day living costs. The NDIS lists these as costs you pay yourself:

rent, board or lodging
groceries
gas, electricity, water, telephone and internet bills
vehicle costs
holiday expenses, including travel.

SIL also does not include nursing, medical, palliative care or other health-related supports, because the health system funds those. On the other hand, your provider’s management, staff training and shadow shifts are already built into the rate it charges.

SIL house vs SDA home

The two are easy to confuse. Specialist disability accommodation, or SDA, is the housing itself: homes built for people with very high support needs. SDA does not cover support workers. SIL is the opposite, because it pays for support workers but not the home.

That is why some people have both in their plan. One pays for a home designed around their needs, and the other pays for the people who support them there. Our guide to SIL vs SDA sets out the difference side by side.

Your agreements in a SIL house

Under the NDIS guideline, your registered SIL provider must help you make decisions about your everyday life, help you feel safe, and give you good and safe support. It must also give you a tenancy agreement.

A tenancy agreement covers the rules in your home. It should tell you who you live with, how you will get support, how much your supports cost, and how you can make changes. It should also say who can help you use your rights and what to do if there is a problem.

You should also make a service agreement with your provider. Among other things, it should cover how you will use your supports if you go on holiday, and what happens if there is a vacancy. Finally, your provider may create a roster of care with you. It describes your supports but does not decide how much funding you get. You can ask your provider for your roster of care at any time.

What happens when a housemate moves out?

The NDIS calls this a vacancy. It means another participant stops sharing support permanently or for a long time.

The NDIS does not fund vacancies in a shared living arrangement. Instead, it funds SIL based on your support needs, not on the arrangements of the people you share with. As a result, your provider should not increase the cost of your SIL or claim extra funds from your plan to cover a vacancy. Your service agreement and tenancy agreement should both explain how vacancies are managed in your SIL house.

How to find a SIL house

Start with the provider, because the support is what the NDIS funds. SIL can now only be delivered by providers that are registered, or that applied to register before 1 October 2026. You can check a provider on the NDIS Commission provider register.

Next, ask for help. If you have SIL funding, you may also have funding for a support coordinator. Your support coordinator, my NDIS contact or provider can help you find somewhere to live where you can use your SIL supports.

Then look at real homes. Our guide to supported independent living vacancies explains where to look and what to ask when you visit. You can also browse our current SIL and SDA vacancies.

Frequently asked questions

What does SIL house mean?

It is an everyday name for a home where someone gets supported independent living, often shared with other participants. The NDIS does not use the term, because SIL funds the support, not the building.

Does the NDIS pay rent in a SIL house?

No. The NDIS says SIL cannot be used for rent, board or lodging, or for groceries and bills. You pay those yourself. The only housing the NDIS funds is specialist disability accommodation.

Is SIL accommodation the same as a SIL house?

Yes, people use SIL accommodation, SIL housing, SIL home and SIL house to mean the same thing: a home where someone gets SIL support.

Can I get SIL if I live alone?

Yes. The NDIS guideline says you can get SIL if you live on your own. However, the NDIS usually funds it when you share support with other participants, and there may be other home and living supports that suit you better.

How many people live in a SIL house?

The NDIS sets no fixed number. Its guideline says it is your choice how many people you share your home with, and your funding is based on your support needs, not your living arrangements.

Are there requirements for a SIL house?

The NDIS rules apply to the support rather than the building. Your provider must be registered for SIL, must give you a tenancy agreement, and should make a service agreement with you. For SIL itself, you generally need to be 18 or older and need support 24 hours a day.

What happens to my SIL if a housemate moves out?

The NDIS does not fund vacancies. Your provider should not increase your costs or claim extra from your plan to cover the gap.

How 1 Care Connect can help

1 Care Connect is a registered NDIS provider, and Supported Independent Living is one of our approved registration groups. A nurse led team runs our SIL homes in Blacktown, Ballina and Banora Point, and we also have SDA homes in Fairfield and Cessnock.

If one of our homes looks right, we will talk through support needs and funding honestly, then arrange a viewing. Contact our team or call 1300 264 942 to ask about a SIL house.