SDA Design Categories: The Four Types Explained

How Do the Four Design Categories Compare?

Each category is built around a different kind of need. The minimum requirements come from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements for SDA and, for new homes, the SDA Design Standard.

What Is Improved Liveability SDA?

Housing with better physical access and features for people with sensory, intellectual or cognitive impairment.

Improved Liveability homes include at least one extra design feature depending on residents' needs. The examples the NDIA gives are luminance contrast, so walls, floors and doors are easy to tell apart, improved wayfinding, and lines of sight so support workers can see residents easily. The NDIA's guideline also mentions homes with very few stairs.

What Is Fully Accessible SDA?

Housing with a high level of physical access for people with significant physical impairment, such as people who use a manual or powered wheelchair at home or can't use steps.

• External doors and private outdoor areas accessible by wheelchair
• A bathroom basin usable sitting or standing
• Power to doors and windows so automation can be added later
• Thought given to whether the kitchen sink, cooktop, benches and appliances need to work from a seated position

What Is Robust SDA?

Housing built to be very strong and durable, so it's safe for the resident and others and needs fewer repairs. It may suit people who need help managing complex behaviours.

• High impact wall linings, fittings and fixtures
• Secure windows, doors and outside areas, and laminated glass
• Sound proofing where residents are likely to make a lot of noise
• A layout with places staff and other residents can move to, to avoid harm

The materials are meant to be inconspicuous, so the home doesn't look institutional. Some Robust homes also have a breakout room, which the SDA pricing treats separately. When deciding on Robust, the NDIA looks at what triggers the person's behaviour, how often it leads to property damage and how much.

What Is High Physical Support SDA?

Housing with a high level of physical access for people who need very high levels of support, such as people who use a ceiling hoist.

• Everything in Fully Accessible, at Livable Housing Design Platinum level
• Structural provision for ceiling hoists
• Assistive technology ready
• Heating and cooling, and communication technology like intercoms, suited to residents' needs
• Emergency power for at least a two hour outage where residents' welfare is at risk
• Doors with at least 950mm clear opening to every habitable room

How Does the NDIA Choose the Design Category?

It looks at the participant's support needs, allied health reports and goals, and which features would make their other supports easier and safer to use.

A design category isn't right if it makes other supports harder to get, or puts the person's health and safety at risk. The NDIA also thinks about needs that are likely to change soon, for example as someone gets older.

You can usually live in an SDA home of a lower value than your plan allows. You can't get more NDIS funding to live in a higher category, although some providers may agree to it for extra rent.

What About Basic SDA?

Basic is a fifth, older category for homes without specialist design features. New residents generally can't get it in their plan.

Basic only applies to existing and legacy SDA. It's in a plan only when the participant already lives in Basic SDA or chooses to live there.