Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) was introduced and founded under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to support eligible participates with a profound functional impairment or very high support needs to access more resources and opportunities in terms of specialised accommodation to cater for their own needs. SDA refers to the four types of accommodation that address specialist housing solutions for people with specific needs under their required category, namely:

The assessment is conducted by an Accredited SDA Assessor under the direction of the SDA Design Standards. The SDA Design Standard sets out detailed design requirements that shall be incorporated into “new built” SDA which may seek enrolment with the NDIA.

From 1st July 2021, all dwelling enrolment applications for SDA will be required to include a certificate from an Accredited SDA Assessor nominating the Design Category the dwelling is to be enrolled in. This shall satisfy the requirements outlined under the SDA Design Standards. An Accredited SDA Assessor is the only person who can issue a Certificate of SDA Category Compliance to confirm that the Design and / or Final-as-Built dwelling has met all the requirements of the SDA Design Standard.