If you’re an NDIS participant, or you’re supporting one, and you live in Orange, Dubbo, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Tamworth, Wagga Wagga or Albury, you’ve probably noticed that finding the right Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) home takes longer out here than it seems to in Sydney or Newcastle. There are fewer homes to choose from, fewer builders putting new ones up, and if nothing suitable is available locally, the next option can be a long drive — or a move — away.
This isn’t just bad luck. It’s a well-known pattern in country and regional Australia, and it’s the reason Excelsior Housing Services has chosen to focus everything we do on these towns, rather than spreading ourselves thin across the whole state.
A quick reminder of what SDA actually is
Specialist Disability Accommodation is housing that’s been built or set up specifically for people with very high support needs — things like wide doorways and hallways, accessible bathrooms and kitchens, ceiling hoists, and backup power for medical equipment. It’s funded by the NDIS as part of a participant’s plan, but it only covers the home itself. The day-to-day support a person receives inside that home (like Supported Independent Living) is funded separately.
Not everyone on the NDIS is eligible for SDA — it’s for people with the highest support needs. You can read the official explanation, eligibility details and the four design categories on the NDIS website.
Why it’s harder to find SDA in the country
Building an SDA home is expensive, and it’s usually private builders and investors who put the money in, betting that the NDIS payments they’ll receive make it worthwhile. In a big city, there are enough people needing SDA, close together, to make that a safe bet. Out here, the same home costs just as much to build, but there are fewer people who need it within a reasonable distance — so fewer builders take the risk, and the number of homes on offer stays smaller.
The NDIA (the government agency that runs the NDIS) has its own word for this: a “thin market” — an area where there simply aren’t enough providers or homes for people to have real choice. It’s a recognised, documented problem, not something families are imagining. You can read more in the NDIA’s own Rural and Remote Strategy, and in independent research published in the Rural and Remote Health journal on exactly this issue.
The knock-on effect is real: participants can end up waiting longer, accepting a home that isn’t quite the right fit, or being offered a placement in a bigger regional centre or even a capital city — away from family, friends and the community they know. That runs against the whole point of the NDIS, which is meant to give people choice and control over their own life, including where they live.
The good news is that this gap is well recognised, not ignored. The NDIA has committed publicly to closing it through targeted regional initiatives, and providers like Excelsior exist specifically because someone needs to keep building in these towns rather than waiting for the market to catch up on its own. It doesn’t fix the wait for any one family right now, but it does mean the direction of travel is toward more choice locally, not less.
Why some of our towns feel further apart than others
The NDIS doesn’t treat every town outside Sydney the same way. It uses a scale (based on population and distance from a major city) to work out how “remote” a location is, and that feeds into decisions about where extra support and investment are most needed. In practical terms: Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Tamworth, Wagga Wagga and Albury are all solidly regional, while Broken Hill sits further out again, which is part of why housing options there are even more limited. If you’re curious how your own town is classified, the Australian Government publishes a simple location lookup tool.
What this actually looks like day to day
A few things tend to be true no matter which of our towns you’re in:
- Fewer homes to compare. In a capital city, a participant might be able to look at five or six SDA homes nearby. In Broken Hill or Dubbo, there may only be one or two options at any given time, if that.
- Fewer providers building at all. Most SDA is built by private investors chasing a return, and the numbers simply work out less attractively in a smaller town — so new supply is slower to appear.
- Support workers need to be available too. An empty SDA home isn’t much use if there aren’t enough support workers locally to staff it — and workforce shortages in the country are well documented by the NDIA itself.
- Missing out locally has a real cost. When there’s nothing suitable nearby, people are sometimes offered housing further away, cutting them off from family and the informal support that usually matters most.
If you’d like to see the national picture — how many people need SDA and how many homes are actually available — the NDIA publishes this data through its SDA Data and Reports hub.
Practical tips if you’re looking for SDA in one of these towns
- Start the search early. Because there’s less stock to choose from, the time between “SDA is approved in my plan” and “moved into a home that actually suits me” tends to be longer here than in the city. Don’t wait until you urgently need to move.
- Lean on a Support Coordinator who knows the local area. Knowing which providers are actually building, and where, is worth a lot more in a small market than a big one — a Support Coordinator with local knowledge can save months.
- Ask any provider how long they’ve actually been operating in your town. A provider with a real, established local presence is generally a safer bet than one that’s new to the area.
- Don’t just take the nearest option without checking the fit. It can be tempting to accept whatever’s available, but it’s still worth checking the home matches your (or your family member’s) actual design category needs — Improved Liveability, Fully Accessible, Robust, or High Physical Support. Talk it through with your Support Coordinator and NDIS planner before deciding.
- Know who represents the sector. The SDA Alliance is the peak body for SDA providers and investors nationally, and it’s a good place to check on sector-wide standards and updates.
- Keep your Support Coordinator and NDIS planner in the loop as your circumstances change. If your support needs shift, or a home that was suitable becomes unsuitable, flag it early — in a small market, being on the radar before a vacancy opens up matters more than it does in the city.
Why a locally based provider matters
Fixing a shortage like this isn’t about one big new building — it’s about a provider committing to a region for the long haul, understanding the local council, the local tradespeople, and the local support workforce, and building an actual track record in town. That’s the approach Excelsior has taken across our regional NSW and border locations: homes built specifically for these communities, managed by a team that lives and works in the same towns as the people we house — not a head office hours away.
If you’re looking for a particular kind of SDA home in a particular town, let us know — we may be able to help. Get in touch here and tell us what you need.
See what’s currently available in your area:
Or see every region in one place at Excelsior Housing Regions, or make a formal referral if you’re a Support Coordinator or family member referring on someone’s behalf.