Top Supported Independent Living (SIL) Providers in Australia

Supported Independent Living (SIL) funds the day-to-day support that helps participants with higher support needs live in a shared home. It pays for the assistance provided by support workers — help with personal care, meals, medication, household routines, and building daily-living skills — usually in a house shared with other NDIS participants. SIL is about the support inside the home, not the rent or the property itself, which are arranged separately.

SIL is designed for people who need regular or continuous support throughout the day and often overnight. The level of funding reflects how much help you need and how that support is shared with housemates. Some homes have active overnight support with a worker awake through the night; others use inactive or on-call overnight arrangements where a worker sleeps on site but is available if needed. A roster of care describes how support hours are structured across a typical week.

The planning process usually involves an assessment of your support needs and a proposed roster of care, which the NDIS reviews to decide the level of SIL funding. Because SIL is one of the larger supports the NDIS funds, it looks carefully at whether the arrangement is reasonable and necessary and whether a different mix of supports might meet your goals with more independence. It is worth exploring alternatives such as Individualised Living Options before committing to a shared SIL arrangement.

Housing and support are deliberately separated. Your accommodation might be a private rental, community housing, or a Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) dwelling if you are eligible, while SIL funds the workers who support you there. Keeping them separate means you can, in principle, change your support provider without having to move house — an important protection for choice and control.

Choosing a SIL provider is a significant decision because they shape your daily life and, often, who you live with. Ask how they match housemates, how they recruit and train workers, how they handle staff consistency, and how they support you to build skills rather than simply doing things for you. Understanding their approach to your goals, your routines, and your right to make decisions is essential.

Reviews and conversations with current or former residents and their families can reveal a lot about a provider's reliability, culture, and responsiveness. Compare providers on their experience with your type of support needs, their staff stability, and how genuinely they involve you in decisions about your own home and life.