Can family live with you in an SDA home?
By The Find My SDA Team · Updated 10 Aug 2026
Short answer
Often, yes. A partner, family member or friend can usually live in your SDA home, even if they have no NDIS funding. A rule called Appendix H adjusts the SDA payment when someone without SDA funding shares the home. The one room they cannot use is the staff room for overnight support.
Moving into a Specialist Disability Accommodation home does not have to mean moving away from the people you love. It is one of the most common questions we hear from participants and families: can my partner, my parent or my child live here too? The short answer is that they often can. This guide explains how it works, what the rule called Appendix H means for your funding, and why the extra staff room in many homes is off limits. If you are new to all this, start with what SDA is, then come back here. It is general information, not advice about your own NDIS plan and funding, and the NDIS makes all funding decisions.
Can your family or partner live in your SDA home?
In most cases, yes. The NDIS says an SDA home can be shared with a small number of other people, and that you can choose to share your own bedroom with someone like a partner if you want to. So living with the people who matter to you is a normal part of how SDA can work.
Whether it happens in practice depends on the home itself: how many bedrooms it has, the design category it is built and enrolled for, and the agreement you sign with the provider. A single-resident apartment has less room for this than a house with a spare bedroom, so the type of home matters as much as the rule.
What is Appendix H and how does it affect your funding?
Appendix H is a part of the NDIS SDA pricing rules. It sets out what happens to the SDA payment when someone who does not have their own SDA funding lives in the home, for example a partner, parent, sibling or friend. In plain terms, it lets a non-funded person share the home while the SDA payment is worked out fairly for the participant who is funded.
Because Appendix H is about sharing a home, it generally applies where there is more than one bedroom to go around. A home built only for one participant plus a support worker usually does not have a spare bedroom for a family member. The exact effect on the payment is set by the NDIS, so ask your provider to explain it for the specific home you are looking at.
Why family cannot use the staff room
Many SDA homes include an extra room for Onsite Overnight Assistance, often called the staff room. This is where a support worker can stay so they are available through the night, sleeping when they are not needed. On our listings you will see this shown as the plus one, for example a 3 plus 1 home, where the plus one is the staff room.
That room is for support staff, not for family. It does not count as a spare bedroom a partner or relative can move into, and it is not the same as the private bedrooms residents live in. The overnight support delivered from that room is funded separately from the home itself. If you want the full picture of how the home and the support are funded differently, see SDA and SIL explained.
Does your family member need NDIS funding to live there?
No. A partner, family member or friend who lives with you does not need to be an NDIS participant and does not need any SDA or NDIS approval of their own. They are living in the home as your family, not as a funded resident.
This is exactly what Appendix H is designed to allow. The person sharing your home is treated as a non-funded resident, and your SDA funding is worked out with that in mind.
Will your family have to pay rent?
You, as the SDA resident, usually pay a Reasonable Rent Contribution towards living in the home, on top of the SDA funding the NDIS pays the provider. That contribution is normal and expected, and you also cover everyday costs like electricity and food.
A family member who moves in with you may be asked to pay a reasonable amount towards the home too, usually through a separate arrangement with the provider. It is fair to ask for any rent, for you and for your family member, in writing before anyone moves in, so there are no surprises.
Who decides whether family can move in?
Three things come together here: your NDIS funding, the home, and the provider. The NDIS funds the specially designed dwelling for you. The home has to physically suit more than one person, with the right number of bedrooms and the right design and accessibility features. And the provider has to agree to the arrangement and set it out in your residency agreement.
Because every home is different, the best step is to ask directly. When you enquire about a vacancy, ask whether a partner or family member can live with you, how it affects the funding, and what each of you would pay. Our guide on how to choose an SDA provider lists more good questions to ask.
How to find an SDA home that suits your family
If living with family matters to you, look for homes with the space and layout to make it work, and be clear about it from your first enquiry. Different types of SDA housing, from houses to villas, offer different amounts of private and shared space, so the building type is worth thinking about early.
Find My SDA is a licensed South Australian real estate agency (RLA 344702) and a registered NDIS SDA provider. You can browse current vacancies by suburb and design category, and when you enquire we can talk through whether a particular home suits you and your family. This describes the general way things work and is subject to change; the NDIS decides funding, and each home and provider sets its own terms.
Common questions
Can my partner live with me in an SDA home?
Usually yes. The NDIS says you can share an SDA home with a small number of people and can choose to share your own bedroom with a partner. Whether it works in a particular home depends on its bedrooms, design category and the provider's agreement.
Does my family member need to be an NDIS participant to live with me?
No. A partner, parent, sibling or friend does not need NDIS funding or any NDIS approval to live in your SDA home. A pricing rule called Appendix H allows a non-funded person to share the home.
Will having family live with me reduce my SDA funding?
Appendix H sets out how the SDA payment is worked out when a person without SDA funding shares the home. The exact effect depends on the home and is set by the NDIS, so ask your provider to explain it for the specific property.
Can my family sleep in the onsite overnight assistance or staff room?
No. That room is for a support worker to stay overnight, not for family. It is not a spare bedroom, and the overnight support it provides is funded separately from the home.
Do family members pay rent in an SDA home?
You usually pay a Reasonable Rent Contribution as the SDA resident. A family member who moves in may be asked to pay a reasonable amount too, through a separate arrangement with the provider. Get any rent in writing first.
This guide is general information only and is not advice about your individual NDIS plan. Whether a family member can live with you depends on the specific home, its SDA enrolment and your provider's agreement, and the NDIS makes all funding decisions. Rules such as Appendix H and the SDA pricing arrangements can change, so always confirm the current details with the NDIS, your planner or support coordinator, and the provider for the home.