What Is a SIL House? Plain-English Guide (2026)

A SIL house is a shared home where a provider delivers Supported Independent Living support to NDIS participants. But here's the part that catches people out: "SIL house" isn't an official NDIS term, and the house isn't yours. The NDIS doesn't fund or define SIL houses. Your SIL funding pays for support workers, not the building. The house belongs to the provider who sourced it. If you leave, your funding moves with you, but the house stays behind. Understanding that one distinction changes how you approach the whole thing.

This article is for NDIS participants and families who keep hearing the phrase "SIL house" and want a straight answer about what it actually is, who owns it, what your funding does and doesn't pay for, and why the difference matters more than anyone tells you. It's a short, plain-English explainer with no jargon and no spin.

First, the term itself is a bit of a fiction

The NDIS does not have a support called a "SIL house." It funds Supported Independent Living (SIL), which is support with the tasks of daily life: help with cooking, cleaning, personal care, medication, getting ready in the morning, that sort of thing. SIL is funding for people to help you, not for a building.

The phrase "SIL house" grew up in the market, not in the legislation. A SIL provider sources a house, usually a fairly ordinary rental, and fills it with participants who have SIL funding. Everyone starts calling it "the SIL house," and over time it sounds like an official category of home. It isn't. It's just a house a provider is using to deliver SIL support.

That might sound like splitting hairs. It isn't, and here's why it matters.

Your SIL funding does not pay for the house

Your SIL funding pays for the support workers. That's it. It does not pay for:

• The rent or the cost of the house itself.
• Your groceries.
• Your utilities, internet, or furniture.

So if SIL doesn't pay for the house, how does the house get paid for? Usually like this: most SIL providers charge you a separate amount, drawn from your Disability Support Pension (DSP) and Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA), to cover or subsidise the rent and household costs. Then you pay for your own groceries and daily life on top, the same as anyone.

So the money actually flows three ways: the NDIS pays the provider for your support workers, a percentage of your DSP (usually 25%) and CRA go to the provider for the housing costs, the rest of your DSP covers your groceries and life. The "SIL house" isn't one neat package. It's a support arrangement and a housing arrangement bolted together, and they're funded completely differently.

Who actually owns the SIL house? (Not you, usually)

The house belongs to the provider. They own it or, more commonly, they head-lease it (they hold the lease and you live there under them). You are not the tenant in the normal sense. You don't hold the lease. You don't control the property.

That means if you decide to leave, whether because the housemates aren't working out, the support is poor, or you've just found somewhere better, the house stays with the provider. Your SIL funding moves with you to a new provider.

People assume that once they're in "their SIL house," it's their home and leaving means giving something up. In reality, you were never the one holding the keys in a legal sense. The provider was. You can take your funding and go; you just can't take the house, because it was never really yours.

This isn't necessarily sinister. Plenty of providers do this well and treat the home as genuinely the participant's. But you need to know the actual structure, because it changes your options. If a "SIL home" is really the provider's house that your funding is being delivered into, then leaving is far more possible than you might think, and being "stuck" is often a feeling, not a fact.

What a SIL house usually looks like day to day

In practice, a SIL house today usually means:

• A shared home, most often with two other participants. Post-NDIS Review, SIL is increasingly delivered at a 1:3 ratio, meaning one support worker supports three participants sharing the house.
• An ordinary building, not a specially modified one. If a house is purpose-built or modified for high physical or behavioural needs, that's a different thing called Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), which only around 6% of participants qualify for. Most SIL houses are just regular rentals.
• Support that's often, but not always, 24/7. Lower-intensity SIL exists too. Not every SIL arrangement has a worker there around the clock.

The most important feature of a SIL house isn't the building at all. It's the people you share it with, because in a 1:3 arrangement you're sharing a worker and a home with two others. Who those people are matters more than almost anything else, which is exactly why being placed into a vacancy with strangers is such a common source of trouble. (More on that below.)

"SIL house" vs the alternatives, quickly

A SIL house is not the only way to live with housemates. You can share a home on drop-in support instead, which is the most common home and living pathway and the one most people forget exists. Drop-in support is funded under your Core Supports, workers visit for set periods rather than being there constantly, and because it's funded at a lower level than SIL, you usually source your own private rental with your housemates. No provider owns that house. You do (or you're on the lease). For a lot of participants who don't need intensive daily support, this is a better fit and gives you far more control.

A SIL house is not SDA. SDA is about the building (a specialised, modified dwelling). SIL is about the support. They can stack for people who need both, but they're different things funded from different parts of your plan.

A SIL house is not an ILO. Individual Living Options is a different pathway, built around a more tailored arrangement, sometimes with a host or co-resident (usually ablebodied ) . You get SIL or ILO, not both. (One honest note on ILO: it can have less day-to-day oversight than SIL, and hosts or co-residents aren't always registered support workers. That can be perfectly safe when it's set up properly, so if you're considering ILO, ask the provider directly what screening and check-ins are in place.)

If you want the full side-by-side, our SIL vs SDA vs ILO guide breaks all four options down properly, and the NDIS housing glossary defines every term in plain English.

Why the "it's not really yours" point matters so much

Understanding that a SIL house belongs to the provider isn't just trivia. It has real consequences for how you should approach the whole thing.

Because the house is the provider's and the important part is really the people and the support, you should think about it in that order: get the people right first, then the support, then the building. The building can change. Your funding can move. What you don't want to do is fall in love with a house, move in, and then discover the housemates a provider picked for you don't suit you at all, because at that point moving is a hassle even though it's your right.

This is the whole reason participant-led matching exists. Instead of being slotted into whichever "SIL house" has a vacancy, you find compatible housemates first and approach a provider as a group. The house becomes the last piece of the puzzle, not the first. If you want to understand why that order works so much better, we've written about why picking your housemates first beats finding a house first, and about your underlying right to choose your own housemates in the first place. That right, Choice and Control, is written into the NDIS Act 2013. It applies to where and with whom you live, including in a SIL house.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a SIL house?

A SIL house is a shared home where a provider delivers Supported Independent Living support to NDIS participants. It is not an official NDIS term. The NDIS funds SIL support, meaning workers who help with daily living, not the house itself. The building is sourced and owned or leased by the provider usually, and participants share it, usually two or three to a home.

Does my SIL funding pay for the house?

No. SIL funding pays for support workers only, not rent, groceries, utilities, or the building. Most SIL providers charge a separate amount drawn from your Disability Support Pension and Commonwealth Rent Assistance to cover the housing costs, and you pay for your own groceries and daily life on top.

Do I own my SIL house?

Usually No. The house belongs to the provider, who usually owns or head-leases it. You are not the legal tenant in the normal sense, but they are trying to change this. This means if you leave, your SIL funding moves with you to a new provider, but the house stays behind. You were never the one holding the lease, which also means leaving is more possible than people assume.

Is a "SIL house" an official NDIS thing?

Not really. The NDIS funds Supported Independent Living, which is support with daily living tasks, not houses. The term "SIL house" grew up in the market to describe a house a provider fills with participants who have SIL funding. It sounds official but it is not a defined NDIS support or category of home.

Can I leave my SIL house if it isn't working out?

Yes. Because the house belongs to the provider and your funding is yours, you can move your SIL funding to a new provider and leave. The house stays with the old provider. Notice periods in your service agreement apply, but being stuck is usually a feeling rather than a legal fact. Choice and Control over where you live is in the NDIS Act.

What's the difference between a SIL house and SDA?

A SIL house is an ordinary home where SIL support is delivered; SIL is about the support. SDA (Specialist Disability Accommodation) is a specially designed or modified building for people with very high physical or behavioural needs, and only around 6% of participants qualify. SIL and SDA can be combined for people who need both, but they are different things.

Do I have to live in a SIL house to have housemates?

No. You can share a home on drop-in support instead, which is the most common home and living pathway and often overlooked. Drop-in is funded under Core Supports, workers visit at set times rather than around the clock, and you usually rent a private home with your housemates that you control, rather than a provider-owned or leased house.

How many people usually live in a SIL house?

Most commonly three participants, because post-NDIS Review SIL is increasingly delivered at a 1:3 ratio, one support worker supporting three people sharing the home. This makes housemate compatibility hugely important, since you share both a worker and a house with two other people. Being matched to a vacancy with strangers is a common source of problems.

Your home. Your housemates. Your call.

So, what is a SIL house? It's a shared home where a provider delivers your SIL support, it's usually an ordinary rental, it usually houses three participants sharing one worker, and, crucially, it belongs to the provider, not you. Your funding buys the support, not the bricks. Once you understand that, the whole thing gets less intimidating: the house is the changeable part, your funding is portable, and the part that actually matters is the people you share it with.

If you'd rather choose those people first than be placed into whatever SIL house has a vacancy, Marco Polo Portal is built for exactly that. It's $97 a year for participants, non-renewing, and usually claimable through your NDIS plan. If you're a support coordinator helping clients find homes that actually fit, our coordinator page has the tools. And if you're a SIL or ILO provider who'd rather welcome a pre-matched group than fill a vacancy and hope, our provider page is built for you.

Your home. Your housemates. Your call. Always.

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