Arrival and Registration  

Welcome and Introductions 

Government policies - including recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission -  are driving a systemic shift away from institutional group homes toward community-based, participant-centred housing models across Australia, including Western Australia.

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This session explores policy and planning trends shaping SDA and broader disability housing, with a focus on:

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• Transitioning to smaller, flexible SDA homes that promote independence and community integration.

• Aligning state and territory planning frameworks with national housing objectives.

• Opportunities for innovation in SDA design and delivery.

• Strategic approaches for providers and investors to adapt to policy pressures while maintaining compliance and sustainability.

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Attendees will gain actionable insights into how national and state reforms are reshaping SDA development, planning pathways, and community-based living models - providing a high-level strategic perspective for future investment and housing planning.

In WA, the convergence of community housing and SDA presents a significant opportunity to improve participant outcomes, streamline service delivery, and strengthen market sustainability.

With the NDIS Full Scheme Agreement now in effect, housing providers, SDA operators, and support services must collaborate to bridge gaps between accessible homes, daily supports, and meaningful community participation.

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This session focuses on practical, local implementation, exploring:

• How wrap-around supports — including coordinated support coordination, health and community services, tenancy and life skills supports — can be integrated with SDA and community housing solutions.

• Emerging collaboration models such as mixed-tenure developments, joint ventures, and transitional/medium-term accommodation.

• Coordinated housing + supports approaches to reduce pressure on acute and emergency services, improve tenancy sustainability, and attract broader investment.

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Attendees will leave with actionable frameworks for delivering holistic, participant-focused housing solutions that balance operational viability, compliance, and meaningful outcomes in WA.

As Western Australia’s disability housing sector continues to evolve, transitional accommodation is no longer just about providing a roof-it’s about delivering an integrated, participant-centred continuum of care.

This session examines how Medium-Term Accommodation (MTA), Short-Term Accommodation (STA), and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) must work together, underpinned by robust wrap-around supports, to ensure participants can move between housing types safely, sustainably, and with minimal disruption.

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Wrap-around supports-including allied health services, disability supports, clinical oversight, community engagement programs, and psychosocial assistance-are essential to enable participants to maintain independence, develop skills, and prepare for long-term housing placements.

Without these supports, transitional accommodation risks becoming temporary shelter rather than a meaningful step in a participant’s pathway to autonomy and community inclusion.

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This session draws on WA-specific policy, current housing trends, and practical provider experiences to show how integrated supports enhance the efficacy of MTA and STA. Attendees will explore strategies for coordinating services, aligning supports with housing types, and ensuring that transitions between short-term, medium-term, and permanent housing are seamless and participant-centred.

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The session also highlights emerging opportunities for innovation, including cross-sector collaboration, technology-enabled supports, and shared housing models, demonstrating that the success of transitional accommodation in 2026 depends as much on the quality and accessibility of wrap-around supports as on the physical housing itself.

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Key Themes Explored

• The critical role of wrap-around supports in STA, MTA, and SDA pathways

• How integrated supports improve participant outcomes: independence, inclusion, skill-building

• Operational strategies for seamless transitions between short-term, medium-term, and permanent housing

• Aligning supports with funding, tenancy rules, and WA policy priorities

• Emerging models for coordinated, participant-centred transitional accommodation

• Risks of neglecting supports: service gaps, participant stress, and delayed SDA placement

While Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) meets the needs of participants with extreme functional impairment, most participants live outside SDA, including in mainstream housing, community housing, or Supported Independent Living (SIL).

For many, there is a waiting period for SDA funding approval — during which participants still require stable, accessible, and supported housing to maintain independence, wellbeing, and engagement in the community.

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This presentation explores the current landscape of non‑SDA disability housing, including SIL-centric homes, community housing partnerships, individualised living options, and accessible mainstream rentals. It highlights strategies to bridge the gap while participants await SDA funding or eligibility approval, ensuring continuity of supports and reducing housing instability.

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Key focus areas include:

• How SIL and non‑SDA supported housing act as transitional pathways for participants awaiting SDA approval.

• Policy and regulatory considerations for SIL and supported accommodation, including mandatory SIL provider registration and new 2026 Practice Standards.

• Innovative housing models that integrate wrap-around supports, link to community services, and prepare participants for eventual SDA placement.

• Collaborative approaches between providers, community housing organisations, and support services to reduce gaps, improve outcomes, and maintain tenancy stability.

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Attendees will gain:

• Insight into practical housing pathways for participants awaiting SDA

• Understanding of how SIL and non‑SDA housing can complement SDA planning

• Strategies for providers and investors to deliver transitional solutions that are safe, supported, and financially viable

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Morning Tea 

In 2025, the NDIA initiated a formal review of the Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) Design Standard to ensure homes continue to meet participant needs while aligning with current accessibility, building, and industry norms.

Simultaneously, questions have emerged about whether the SDA Rules, which govern regulatory, funding, and operational frameworks, should evolve alongside the Design Standard to better support innovation, compliance, and participant choice.

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As a recognised Peak Body, NDISDA contributed sector feedback alongside input from NDISDA Members and Stakeholders.

This panel brings together regulatory experts, SDA providers, policy advisors, investors, and participant representatives to discuss the review, explore potential SDA Rules reform, and analyse the practical and strategic implications for the sector.

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Delegates will gain actionable insights into:

• Updates to the Design Standard and their impact on new builds, refurbishments, budgets, and compliance planning.

• Key considerations for potential SDA Rules reform, including alignment with updated design, funding, and operational frameworks.

• Managing transitional periods and staged compliance to reduce operational complexity.

• Strategies to future-proof SDA projects, ensuring flexibility, participant-centred outcomes, and regulatory readiness.

• Opportunities to modernise SDA governance, support innovation, and enhance access, safety, and housing outcomes for participants.

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Outcome: Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the evolving SDA landscape, practical guidance for adapting design and operational practices, and strategic perspectives on aligning SDA Rules and Design Standards for 2026 and beyond.

​The NDIA’s 2025–26 SDA Pricing Arrangements reflect ongoing reforms designed to balance supply and demand while supporting long-term sector viability. A longer-term SDA Pricing Review is shaping price limits and benchmark rates over the next five years, impacting investment and participant access.

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This session examines the implications of pricing reforms on SDA delivery.

Delegates will explore:

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• Adjusted benchmark prices and their influence on provider revenue models and investment decisions.

• Changes to participant plans and cost structures, particularly in high-cost or low-demand regions.

• How ongoing pricing consultations signal future incremental reform through 2026.

• Strategies to maintain financial sustainability while delivering participant-focused housing.

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Attendees will leave equipped to plan for evolving funding frameworks, optimise SDA revenue models, and navigate pricing changes with confidence.

Supported Independent Living (SIL) funding ratios are a critical driver of financial performance in Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), directly affecting operational viability, participant outcomes, and investor returns.

While SDA is often evaluated as a standalone asset, its true profitability is closely tied to SIL staffing ratios, participant needs, and funding structures that underpin daily service delivery.

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This presentation explains why investors must understand SIL ratios: misaligned funding assumptions or inappropriate ratios can reduce cash flow, create operational risk, and impact long-term asset returns.

Providers will also gain insight into balancing participant support requirements with financial sustainability, ensuring SDA developments remain both ethically sound and commercially viable.

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Attendees will learn how to assess SIL ratios, identify risk exposure, and make informed decisions that safeguard participant outcomes while optimizing investment performance.

Lunch 

Specialist Disability Accommodation  is fundamentally shaped by town planning decisions - from zoning and land-use controls to infrastructure provision, transport access, workforce catchments, and community integration.

When town planning and spatial analysis are approached as compliance requirements rather than strategic foundations, SDA dwellings may achieve certification yet remain misaligned with participants’ real-life needs and long-term operational viability.

These misalignments create avoidable risks for participants, providers, and investors alike.
This presentation examines how early town planning and spatial decision-making directly influence participant outcomes, service delivery models, emergency responsiveness, and asset sustainability across jurisdictions.
Town planning is positioned not as a regulatory hurdle, but as a critical enabler of fit-for-purpose SDA — supporting dignity, choice, safety, and inclusion while ensuring developments remain viable over their full lifecycle.

Key Focus Areas
•    How town planning frameworks, local planning schemes, and zoning controls shape SDA outcomes nationally
•    The link between spatial planning, infrastructure access, and participant lived experience, including transport, services, and community connection
•    Identifying and managing planning and locational risk for SDA investors and providers
•    Town planning principles for assessing spatial suitability without prescribing a single SDA solution
•    Practical approaches to early town planning engagement and due diligence to align capital, participant needs, and operational realities

Attendees will gain a nationally relevant understanding of why town planning matters in SDA, how to assess SDA locations strategically, and how spatially informed planning decisions can balance ethical obligations, participant outcomes, and sustainable investment.

In 2026, the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) increased focus on payment integrity and pre‑payment review controls is creating a new operational reality for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) providers, investors, and participants alike.

While safeguards like enhanced fraud prevention and claim verification are designed to protect the long‑term sustainability of the NDIS, they have also led to more frequent payment holds and longer processing times, with legitimate claims sometimes delayed for days or even weeks before funds are released.

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For investors, prolonged payment holds can distort projected cash flows, elevate financing costs, and undermine confidence in revenue stability - especially for investment models reliant on regular Supported Independent Living and SDA payments.

For SDA providers, slower or withheld payments introduce acute cashflow risk, forcing many to self‑finance operations, delay staff payments, or absorb expenses while waiting for clearance.

This creates a tangible threat to market participation, particularly for smaller providers with limited liquidity.

For Participants, payment holds risk interruptions to essential supports and complicate relationships with plan managers or service providers.

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This session will unpack why payment holds are occurring - including heightened NDIA compliance protocols, more rigorous pre‑payment audit processes, and the integration challenges of new claims systems - and explore strategies to navigate integrity controls without compromising financial viability or client outcomes.

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Attendees will gain insight into:

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• The drivers behind NDIA payment holds and how they fit into broader fraud prevention and integrity frameworks

• Cashflow risk implications for SDA investments and operational planning

• Practical steps SDA providers and investors can take to anticipate, manage, and mitigate payment delays

• Approaches to strengthen communication with the NDIA and plan managers to reduce payment uncertainty

The Specialist Disability Accommodation  sector is navigating a period of significant reform and heightened scrutiny.

System changes, regulatory updates, and market pressures are reshaping participant access, provider sustainability, and investor confidence.

This closing panel brings together regulatory experts, SDA providers, investors, advocates, and participant representatives to examine how these factors intersect and impact the sector, with a focus on managing risk, maintaining continuity of care, and ensuring market resilience.

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Key areas of discussion include:

• Provider collapse and operational risk: financial, governance, and workforce factors contributing to instability, and strategies to safeguard service continuity.

• Transitional and regulatory pressures: navigating evolving SDA eligibility frameworks, automated planning tools, and changes in needs assessment processes including: 

Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) in SDA:

• The growing role of the AAT in resolving disputes around SDA funding, eligibility, and plan approvals.

• How automated plan reviews, structured assessments, and participant advocacy affect outcomes.

• Implications of AAT decisions for providers, including adjusting operational practices, ensuring compliance, and responding to participant appeals.

• Investor considerations: exposure to occupancy and funding variability when AAT decisions delay or alter SDA placements.

• Strategies for risk mitigation, including early engagement with participants, robust documentation, and proactive dispute resolution.

• Market resilience and sustainability strategies: proactive approaches for risk mitigation, governance, regulatory compliance, and operational planning to strengthen the SDA ecosystem.

• Case studies and practical insights: lessons from provider challenges, effective risk management, and collaboration models that maintain participant wellbeing.

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Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to:

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• Navigate SDA system reforms with confidence.

• Protect participant outcomes and ensure continuity of care.

• Strengthen operational and financial resilience across SDA portfolios.

• Align investment strategies with evolving regulatory and market conditions.

• Understand the detailed impact of AAT decisions on SDA operations, participant access, and investment risk.

Panel and Q & A from the audience 

Networking and depart