Can I deliver SIL and accommodation assistance from the same registration?

No. SIL (Registration Group 0115) and Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance (Registration Group 0117) are two separate registration groups. If you want to deliver both types of support, you must hold both registration groups in your NDIS registration. SIL requires a certification audit. Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance requires a verification audit. You can apply for both registration groups in the same application — you do not need to apply separately. However, you need to demonstrate compliance with the relevant Practice Standards requirements for each registration group.

Do I need separate policies for accommodation assistance compared to SIL?

You will need the same Core Module policy suite for both registration groups — the NDIS Practice Standards Core Module requirements apply regardless of registration group. However, you may need to develop specific procedures or practice guidelines that address the unique aspects of accommodation and tenancy assistance — such as how workers engage with real estate agents, how the provider manages situations where a participant is at risk of eviction, and what the provider's role is (and isn't) in a participant's tenancy arrangement. These practice-specific procedures can be developed as supplements to your core policies rather than requiring entirely separate documents.

What does an accommodation and tenancy progress note look like?

An accommodation and tenancy progress note should document: the specific activity that occurred (e.g., accompanied participant to property viewing, called real estate agent regarding lease renewal, assisted participant to pay rent online), what the participant's role and engagement in the activity was, what outcomes were achieved or what barriers were encountered, any follow-up actions required and by whom, and how the activity links to the participant's housing-related NDIS goals. Notes should avoid vague descriptions like 'assisted with housing' and should capture specific, observable activities and outcomes. The free Notes Rewriter tool on NDISCompliant can help workers write structured, compliant accommodation support progress notes.

What can and can't I do as an accommodation and tenancy assistance provider?

An accommodation and tenancy assistance provider CAN help participants understand their rights and responsibilities as tenants, develop skills to manage their tenancy independently, research and identify housing options, accompany participants to property inspections, support participants to communicate with landlords and housing providers, assist with tenancy applications, and help participants understand and manage their housing budget. An accommodation and tenancy assistance provider CANNOT sign a tenancy agreement on behalf of a participant (this requires specific authority), make housing decisions for a participant, manage a participant's rental payments without specific consent and appropriate safeguards, or provide personal care or daily living assistance (these are different support categories requiring different registration).

NDIS Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance: Provider Guide to Registration and Compliance

What is Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance (Registration Group 0117)?

Registration Group 0117 — Assistance with Daily Life — Accommodation/Tenancy — covers supports that help NDIS participants find, access, and sustain housing in the community. It is a capacity-building support type that sits at the intersection of housing services and disability support.

Under the NDIS Act 2013 and the NDIS pricing framework, accommodation and tenancy assistance is funded from a participant's Core Supports budget (Assistance with Daily Life), though in some cases it may be funded from the Capacity Building budget depending on how the support is framed in the participant's plan. The key distinction from other housing-related NDIS supports is that Group 0117 specifically addresses the tenancy relationship — the participant's rights and responsibilities as a tenant — and the practical skills needed to maintain that tenancy.

It is important to distinguish accommodation and tenancy assistance from:

SIL (Registration Group 0115): Which funds personal support workers in a participant's home, not housing navigation or tenancy skills
SDA (Registration Group 0118): Which funds the specialist housing asset itself
Support Coordination (Registration Group 0106): Which may involve some housing-related coordination activities but is not specifically funded for tenancy skills development

How Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance Differs from SIL and SDA

Feature	Accommodation & Tenancy (0117)	SIL (0115)	SDA (0118)
What it funds	Housing search, tenancy skill development, tenancy maintenance support	Personal support workers delivering daily living assistance	The specialist dwelling itself
Who benefits	Participants seeking housing or at risk of losing housing	Participants in shared or individual living arrangements needing personal support	Participants with extreme functional impairment needing specialised housing features
Audit type	Verification	Certification	Certification
Time-limited or ongoing	Often time-limited during transition periods or housing crises	Typically ongoing for participants in SIL arrangements	Ongoing while participant lives in SDA dwelling

The practical focus of accommodation and tenancy assistance is on building the participant's capacity to function effectively as a tenant. This is distinct from SIL, which provides personal support without a specific focus on developing the participant's independent tenancy skills. A participant receiving SIL may also receive accommodation and tenancy assistance as a separate, time-limited support aimed at building skills that eventually reduce their need for ongoing support.

Who Uses Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance Supports?

Accommodation and tenancy assistance is particularly valuable for:

Participants transitioning from institutional or residential settings to more independent living in the community — for example, people leaving group homes, hospital settings, or correctional facilities
Participants experiencing homelessness or housing instability who need support to secure and maintain private rental housing despite challenges related to their disability
Participants with psychosocial disability who may have difficulty navigating landlord relationships, understanding their tenancy obligations, or maintaining housing during mental health episodes
Young adults with disability leaving the family home for the first time, who need to develop independent tenancy skills
Participants with cognitive impairment who need support to understand and meet their tenancy obligations but who aspire to live independently in the community

The unifying thread is that these participants have housing-related goals in their NDIS plans that go beyond just having a support worker present — they are actively working to improve their housing circumstances or their ability to sustain housing independently.

Tenancy Skills Development: What Providers Can and Can't Do

One of the most important things for accommodation and tenancy assistance providers to understand is the boundary between supporting a participant to develop tenancy skills and taking over the tenancy relationship on the participant's behalf. This boundary matters for both compliance and participant rights reasons.

What Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance Providers CAN Do

Help participants understand the rights and responsibilities of a tenant under residential tenancy legislation
Assist participants to develop the skills to communicate effectively with landlords and property managers
Support participants to research housing options that meet their needs and preferences
Accompany participants to property inspections and help them evaluate whether a property meets their needs
Assist with tenancy applications, including helping participants understand and complete forms
Support participants to understand and manage their housing-related budget (rent, utilities, bonds)
Assist participants to identify and resolve housing maintenance issues through the appropriate channels
Provide information and referrals to housing authorities, community housing providers, and advocacy services
Support participants at tribunal hearings (VCAT, NCAT, etc.) related to their tenancy

What Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance Providers CANNOT Do

Sign a tenancy agreement on behalf of a participant without specific legal authority
Make housing decisions for a participant without the participant's informed consent and direction
Take over management of a participant's rental payments without explicit consent and appropriate financial safeguards
Provide personal care or daily living assistance (these require Registration Group 0104)
Provide legal advice about tenancy matters (participants should be referred to a tenancy legal service)

Boundary Alert

Doing things FOR participants rather than building their capacity is a scope issue. Accommodation and tenancy assistance is fundamentally a capacity-building support. Workers who simply manage all tenancy tasks without working to build the participant's own skills are not delivering the support as intended and may be delivering outside the scope of Group 0117. Document how your practice builds participant capacity over time — auditors will look for this.

The Housing Navigator Role

Some providers describe their accommodation assistance workers as "housing navigators" — a term that captures the active, system-navigation aspect of the role. A housing navigator for an NDIS participant may:

Build relationships with local real estate agents and community housing providers to identify suitable properties before they are widely advertised
Understand the participant's specific housing needs (location, accessibility requirements, proximity to supports) and proactively identify properties that match
Negotiate with landlords on the participant's behalf (with their explicit consent and instruction) — for example, discussing modifications needed for accessibility
Connect participants with specialist housing resources — NDIS Home Modification funding, State government housing programs, Indigenous housing services, etc.
Assist participants to build a positive rental history through tenancy skills development
Support participants through housing transitions — from one property to another, or from a supported setting to independent living

The housing navigator role reflects the reality that many NDIS participants face significant barriers in Australia's private rental market — high rents, competitive markets, discrimination, and accessibility gaps. Skilled accommodation and tenancy assistance workers can substantially improve participants' housing outcomes.

NDIS Price Guide Categories for Accommodation Support

Accommodation and tenancy assistance is claimed under the Core Supports — Assistance with Daily Life support category, using specific support item codes from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits. The relevant codes include items for:

Standard accommodation/tenancy assistance (hourly rate)
Non-face-to-face accommodation assistance (for research, phone calls, administrative tasks done on behalf of the participant)
Report writing related to the participant's housing needs and progress

Providers must ensure they are claiming against the correct support item codes and within the current price limits. Claiming for in-home personal care activities under the accommodation assistance support item codes is a common claiming error that the NDIS Commission and NDIA may audit. The support item code used should accurately reflect the nature of the activity delivered.

Registration Requirements: Verification Audit for Group 0117

Registration Group 0117 (Accommodation and Tenancy Assistance) requires a Verification audit — the lower-level audit type. This makes it significantly less burdensome than SIL or SDA registration, which require certification audits.

The Verification audit for accommodation and tenancy assistance will assess the NDIS Practice Standards Core Module requirements. For this registration group, the auditor will particularly focus on:

Person-centred practice: Evidence that supports are directed by the participant's housing goals and preferences, not the provider's assumptions about what is appropriate
Rights and choice: Evidence that participants are informed of their rights in relation to housing and tenancy, and that their housing choices are respected
Documentation and case notes: Evidence that accommodation assistance activities are being documented, linked to participant goals, and reviewed for effectiveness
Worker qualifications and screening: Evidence that workers hold relevant qualifications and have current NDIS Worker Screening Check clearances
Feedback and complaints: A functioning complaints process accessible to participants

Documentation for Tenancy Support Providers

Accommodation and tenancy assistance providers must maintain documentation that demonstrates both compliance with the NDIS Practice Standards and the specific nature and effectiveness of the supports they are delivering.

Required Documentation

Service Agreement for each participant, including the scope of accommodation/tenancy assistance to be provided
Assessment of participant's housing needs and goals, linked to their NDIS plan
Progress notes for each session/contact, documenting the specific activities and outcomes
Housing plan or action plan for participants actively seeking housing
Evidence of participant consent for any actions taken on their behalf (e.g., contacting landlords)
Incident reports for any incidents arising during accommodation assistance activities
Worker qualifications and NDIS Worker Screening Check records

Progress notes are particularly important for accommodation assistance work. A note that says "Assisted participant with housing today" does not demonstrate what was done or achieved. A compliant note might say: "Accompanied [participant] to inspect 2-bedroom property at [suburb]. Participant identified concerns about bathroom accessibility and kitchen bench heights. Discussed whether modifications could address these. [Participant] decided the property was not suitable due to steep driveway. Researched two further properties meeting [participant's] accessibility criteria and sent details. Next step: View [address] on [date]."

The free Notes Rewriter tool can help accommodation assistance workers transform brief activity summaries into structured, goal-linked progress notes that meet NDIS documentation standards.

Working with Housing Authorities and Real Estate Agents

Accommodation and tenancy assistance workers frequently interface with entities outside the NDIS ecosystem — public housing authorities, community housing providers, and private real estate agents. Building effective working relationships with these entities is a core competency for providers in this space.

State and Territory Housing Authorities

State housing authorities (such as Housing Victoria, Housing NSW, Community Housing in Queensland) have specific application and support processes for applicants with disability. Accommodation assistance workers should be familiar with:

The priority housing application process and what evidence supports a priority application
The special needs housing or disability housing programs available in their state/territory
How to obtain housing advocacy support for participants facing housing instability

Community Housing Providers

Community housing providers (CHPs) often have specific housing stock designed for people with disability and are frequently more accessible than the private rental market. Building relationships with local CHPs, understanding their allocation processes, and knowing what supports participants may need to meet CHP requirements is valuable knowledge for accommodation assistance workers.

Private Real Estate Agents

Working effectively with private real estate agents requires understanding both the participant's rights under residential tenancy legislation and the practical reality of how rental applications are assessed. Workers should be aware of discrimination protections for people with disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and relevant state anti-discrimination legislation, and know how to support participants who experience discrimination in the rental market.

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Important: This article provides general guidance about NDIS compliance requirements. It is not legal or professional advice. Requirements may change as the NDIS Commission updates its policies and Practice Standards. Always verify current requirements with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission or a registered NDIS consultant before making compliance decisions.