2021/22 Price Guide Update – SDA and SIL

Specialist Disability Accomodation (SDA)

Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is one of the very few NDIS prices that will receivean increase in the pending release of the 2021/22 NDIS Price Guide. According to yesterday’s press release, the NDIS advised SDA will receive an indexation of 1.1%. Is this cause for celebration? Not really. 

The chart below shows the dwelling value increases in Australia for the past month, quarter, and year. 

Unless you are considering SDA in regional WA, the 1.1% increase in SDA prices falls substantially short of the growth in property values. 

The increase in values translates to SDA apartments being the only viable design category in capital cities, which would be okay if the NDIS were funding people to live in apartments – but it is not. So not only is the NDIS ignoring choice and control with respect to the type of home a person wants, it is also forcing people with disability to live in outlying areas surrounding capital cities or to move to regional locations. 

I wonder what the Australian Human Rights Commission would think of this situation.

Supported Independent Living (SIL)

You may recall during the latter half of 2020, the NDIS reached out to the sector to seek feedback on SIL prices after they had been fixed. Many organisations spent a lot of time and effort responding to the consultation paper and providing evidence as to why, in most cases, the disability support worker cost model elements associated with providing SIL supports were higher than those for assistance with daily living outside a SIL setting. 

It would seem that all that effort and evidence was a complete waste of time, as there is to be no change to the prices in July 2021, with a review likely in January 2022 that will probably only alter prices with respect to the wage review decision.  

Just last week, the NDIS noted that it would release its position with respect to the SIL price consultation “in the next few weeks”. I can only assume that yesterday’s press release is that position and that position is “we have ignored your feedback”. 

Home and Living for people with disability is an essential element of a person’s overall well-being. International and local studies of people with disability and their living situations point towards a safe and secure home as vital to people maximising their capacity to live ordinary lives whilst reducing their support costs. That is one of the fundamental objectives of the NDIS, yet it seems the NDIS is deliberately ignoring the rights of people with disability in pursuit of sustainability.