Health and education

Specialist Disability Accommodation

Access to adequate, accessible, and affordable housing is a fundamental human right. People with disability have more complex living requirements, often resulting in higher costs associated with housing.

In 2013 the Commonwealth Government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (“NDIS”) to address the challenges that surround living with a disability. The NDIS is a complex national reform aimed to shift away from a block funded welfare model of support to a fee for- service market-based approach. One stream of the NDIS addresses housing directly – Specialist Disability Accommodation (“SDA”).

The payment structures from the Commonwealth Government to owners and financiers of SDA are set to compensate investors for the additional design and construction requirements to meet accessibility and support needs.

Image of SDA apartment building in Gold Coast | Image Credit: Peter Sexty
Image of SDA apartment building in Gold Coast | Image Credit: Peter Sexty

How do we address this challenge?

We believe we can have the greatest impact in SDA by:
  1. Financing the creation of disability housing that would not have otherwise been financed, with a focus on the specific design categories for which there is meaningful unmet demand;
  2. Developing and utilising models of investment that can be replicated and scaled by the market; and
  3. Ensuring all aspects of our investment – from design to tenant selection to the provision of supports – are conducted with best practice and are participant-led.

Consistent with our investment strategy, we identify and partner with an Impact Partner with the relevant expertise and capability to deliver high impact. Within SDA, we are fortunate to partner with Summer Housing, one of the leading providers of disability accommodation in Australia.

Impact achieved to date

We are proud to have entered the sector by funding property types that we perceived were underserved by the market, including Fully Accessible apartments. We continued to invest through the market challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which ensured that the pipeline of appropriate, and much needed, housing coming online did not slow.

To date we have financed 84 new SDA apartments around Australia.

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