The SDA gap
9,014 people have been found eligible for Specialist Disability Accommodation and are not living in it: 35% of everyone assessed as needing it. This page explains what that means and shows where they are.
What the gap is
Specialist Disability Accommodation is housing the NDIS pays for. It funds the building, not the help a person receives inside it, and only a small group of participants qualify: those with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. Just 3% of all NDIS participants have been assessed as needing it.
Everyone assessed as needing SDA is in one of two states. Either they are living in it, or they have been found eligible and are not. The second group is the gap.
It is not a queue. The NDIA publishes no waiting list and no waiting time, and being in this group does not mean a home is on its way. Someone can be here because nothing suitable has been built near them, because what exists locally is the wrong design category for what they were approved for, because the right dwelling exists and somebody else lives in it, or because they have been found eligible but do not yet have the funding in their plan.
Utilisation is the share of people with an assessed SDA need who are living in SDA. Nationally it is 65%. It varies from under a third to almost all, district by district, and the table below is the clearest view of that anywhere.
Participants assessed as needing SDA
25,658
- Living in SDA
- 16,644 65%
- Found eligible, not living in it
- 9,014 35%
Supplement P Table P.9, as at 30 June 2026
How the NDIA defines these two groups
Quoted in full from the note the Agency publishes beneath the table, rather than paraphrased. It is worth reading, because it says plainly that the NDIA cannot yet fully explain the gap either.
The number of participants with SDA in use are participants that have SDA funding in their latest plan and evidence of using SDA. Participants who are SDA eligible (SDA funding not yet in use) are either participants that have SDA in their latest plan and don't have evidence of using it, or participants who have been found eligible for SDA through the home and living application process who don't yet have SDA funding in their plan. Evidence of SDA funding in use is estimated based on SDA payments, SDA service bookings and address matching to an enrolled SDA dwelling. Future enhancements to the PACE system will allow for better tracking and an ability to better understand why participants may not be using SDA funding. There are a number of participants who were found eligible through the legacy CRM process that require further investigation.
<11. Those cells appear here exactly as published, never as zero and never
blank, and any total that includes one is marked
≥ to show it is a floor rather than an exact figure.
Quarterly figures run from 30 September 2024 to 30 June 2026.
Service districts are defined by the current address the participant resides in. 'Other' includes participants where the service district information is missing. Two ways to read the gap
A raw count and a rate answer different questions, and they rank the country differently. The largest gaps are mostly in big districts, because more people live there. The worst rates are mostly somewhere else.
Largest gaps by headcount
Where the most people are waiting. This is a count, so populous districts lead it largely because more people live in them.
- South Western Sydney NSW · 52% utilisation 484
- Hunter New England NSW · 67% utilisation 371
- Brisbane QLD · 59% utilisation 367
- Western Sydney NSW · 68% utilisation 365
- Northern Adelaide SA · 68% utilisation 297
- North Sydney NSW · 73% utilisation 242
- Southern Adelaide SA · 66% utilisation 236
- South Eastern Sydney NSW · 64% utilisation 225
- Bayside Peninsula VIC · 78% utilisation 213
- North East Metro WA · 41% utilisation 202
- Southern Melbourne VIC · 70% utilisation 201
- North East Melbourne VIC · 78% utilisation 189
- Robina QLD · 63% utilisation 188
- Illawarra Shoalhaven NSW · 64% utilisation 180
- Central North Metro WA · 37% utilisation 169
Lowest utilisation
Where the smallest share of people with an SDA need are actually in it. This is a rate, so district size does not flatter it. Limited to districts with 100 or more people in need.
- South East TAS · 110 with an SDA need 29.1%
- North West TAS · 123 with an SDA need 31.7%
- Central North Metro WA · 267 with an SDA need 36.7%
- North East Metro WA · 342 with an SDA need 40.9%
- North TAS · 157 with an SDA need 42.0%
- Darwin Urban NT · 181 with an SDA need 48.6%
- Mid North Coast NSW · 241 with an SDA need 50.2%
- Sydney NSW · 249 with an SDA need 51.4%
- Rockhampton QLD · 182 with an SDA need 52.2%
- South Western Sydney NSW · 1,017 with an SDA need 52.4%
- South East Metro WA · 348 with an SDA need 52.6%
- Central South Metro WA · 207 with an SDA need 52.7%
Every service district
Sort any column, filter by state, or search. SIL and total participant counts come from Supplement P Table P.1; SDA status comes from the SDA participants dataset.
86 districts
| NSW South Western Sydney | 533 | 484 | 1,017 | 52% | 1,707 | 36,937 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW Hunter New England | 738 | 371 | 1,109 | 67% | 2,178 | 37,448 |
| QLD Brisbane | 531 | 367 | 898 | 59% | 1,257 | 30,262 |
| NSW Western Sydney | 791 | 365 | 1,156 | 68% | 1,602 | 28,271 |
| SA Northern Adelaide | 641 | 297 | 938 | 68% | 1,238 | 22,753 |
| NSW North Sydney | 640 | 242 | 882 | 73% | 1,066 | 15,219 |
| SA Southern Adelaide | 468 | 236 | 704 | 66% | 884 | 14,614 |
| NSW South Eastern Sydney | 408 | 225 | 633 | 64% | 834 | 15,696 |
| VIC Bayside Peninsula | 741 | 213 | 954 | 78% | 1,019 | 25,262 |
| WA North East Metro | 140 | 202 | 342 | 41% | 716 | 10,154 |
| VIC Southern Melbourne | 472 | 201 | 673 | 70% | 801 | 20,599 |
| VIC North East Melbourne | 660 | 189 | 849 | 78% | 893 | 20,021 |
| QLD Robina | 317 | 188 | 505 | 63% | 781 | 17,168 |
| NSW Illawarra Shoalhaven | 316 | 180 | 496 | 64% | 760 | 13,478 |
| WA Central North Metro | 98 | 169 | 267 | 37% | 461 | 7,662 |
| QLD Beenleigh | 353 | 168 | 521 | 68% | 858 | 20,232 |
| QLD Caboolture/Strathpine | 347 | 168 | 515 | 67% | 852 | 19,140 |
| WA South East Metro | 183 | 165 | 348 | 53% | 569 | 7,686 |
| QLD Ipswich | 224 | 159 | 383 | 58% | 603 | 14,026 |
| VIC Western Melbourne | 426 | 158 | 584 | 73% | 557 | 21,053 |
| VIC Inner East Melbourne | 601 | 155 | 756 | 80% | 748 | 13,660 |
| NSW Northern NSW | 188 | 153 | 341 | 55% | 462 | 11,285 |
| NSW Nepean Blue Mountains | 404 | 147 | 551 | 73% | 774 | 14,096 |
| NSW Central Coast | 297 | 144 | 441 | 67% | 672 | 13,272 |
| NSW Western NSW | 274 | 143 | 417 | 66% | 644 | 9,179 |
| QLD Maroochydore | 214 | 143 | 357 | 60% | 640 | 14,804 |
| ACT ACT | 214 | 140 | 354 | 60% | — | — |
| VIC Outer East Melbourne | 410 | 138 | 548 | 75% | 568 | 14,622 |
| NSW Murrumbidgee | 253 | 133 | 386 | 66% | 498 | 9,897 |
| QLD Toowoomba | 205 | 124 | 329 | 62% | 576 | 9,546 |
| NSW Sydney | 128 | 121 | 249 | 51% | 448 | 8,793 |
| NSW Mid North Coast | 121 | 120 | 241 | 50% | 356 | 9,428 |
| TAS South West | <11 | 116 | — | — | 386 | 4,527 |
| WA North Metro | 130 | 114 | 244 | 53% | 402 | 10,020 |
| VIC Hume Moreland | 239 | 106 | 345 | 69% | 366 | 14,676 |
| WA South Metro | 139 | 105 | 244 | 57% | 518 | 11,863 |
| WA Central South Metro | 109 | 98 | 207 | 53% | 386 | 8,845 |
| QLD Cairns | 137 | 97 | 234 | 59% | 439 | 8,070 |
| QLD Townsville | 143 | 95 | 238 | 60% | 470 | 9,149 |
| VIC Loddon | 206 | 95 | 301 | 68% | 344 | 11,134 |
| NT Darwin Urban | 88 | 93 | 181 | 49% | 364 | 3,955 |
| TAS North | 66 | 91 | 157 | 42% | 249 | 4,767 |
| VIC Barwon | 423 | 88 | 511 | 83% | 575 | 14,217 |
| QLD Rockhampton | 95 | 87 | 182 | 52% | 288 | 9,034 |
| VIC Brimbank Melton | 317 | 86 | 403 | 79% | 459 | 14,603 |
| TAS North West | 39 | 84 | 123 | 32% | 251 | 3,699 |
| SA Eastern Adelaide | 196 | 83 | 279 | 70% | 283 | 5,553 |
| SA Western Adelaide | 140 | 81 | 221 | 63% | 266 | 5,699 |
| TAS South East | 32 | 78 | 110 | 29% | 216 | 3,902 |
| VIC Goulburn | 113 | 72 | 185 | 61% | 215 | 6,863 |
| VIC Central Highlands | 334 | 67 | 401 | 83% | 433 | 8,455 |
| NT Central Australia | 13 | 65 | 78 | 17% | 178 | 1,193 |
| VIC Inner Gippsland | 140 | 61 | 201 | 70% | 234 | 8,098 |
| VIC Western District | 231 | 59 | 290 | 80% | 290 | 5,354 |
| NSW Southern NSW | 104 | 58 | 162 | 64% | 251 | 6,368 |
| WA South West | 31 | 53 | 84 | 37% | 199 | 5,591 |
| QLD Maryborough | 122 | 49 | 171 | 71% | 260 | 6,170 |
| VIC Ovens Murray | 121 | 42 | 163 | 74% | 201 | 5,157 |
| QLD Bundaberg | 91 | 39 | 130 | 70% | 197 | 4,203 |
| VIC Outer Gippsland | 57 | 38 | 95 | 60% | 108 | 3,403 |
| WA Kimberley-Pilbara | <11 | 37 | — | — | 94 | 2,124 |
| SA Limestone Coast | 34 | 32 | 66 | 52% | 106 | 2,160 |
| WA Goldfields-Esperance | — | 32 | 0 | — | 53 | 1,193 |
| SA Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island | 32 | 29 | 61 | 52% | 71 | 2,051 |
| WA Great Southern | <11 | 29 | — | — | 67 | 1,642 |
| QLD Mackay | 77 | 26 | 103 | 75% | 207 | 4,826 |
| SA Murray and Mallee | 53 | 26 | 79 | 67% | 109 | 2,780 |
| SA Barossa, Light and Lower North | 29 | 24 | 53 | 55% | 74 | 3,559 |
| SA Eyre and Western | <11 | 24 | — | — | 65 | 1,963 |
| VIC Mallee | 85 | 23 | 108 | 79% | 124 | 3,655 |
| SA Adelaide Hills | 39 | 22 | 61 | 64% | 96 | 2,878 |
| SA Yorke and Mid North | 21 | 21 | 42 | 50% | 81 | 2,479 |
| NT Katherine | 13 | 16 | 29 | 45% | 47 | 394 |
| WA Midwest-Gascoyne | 21 | 13 | 34 | 62% | 56 | 1,753 |
| SA Far North (SA) | <11 | 12 | — | — | 37 | 723 |
| NSW Far West | <11 | 11 | — | — | 32 | 1,035 |
| MIS Other | — | — | 0 | — | — | — |
| NSW - Other | — | — | 0 | — | 0 | 25 |
| NT Barkly | — | <11 | — | — | 13 | 189 |
| NT Darwin Remote | — | <11 | — | — | — | 656 |
| NT East Arnhem | — | <11 | — | — | — | 293 |
| NT - Other | <11 | <11 | — | — | 12 | 214 |
| SA - Other | — | <11 | — | — | 0 | 58 |
| TAS - Other | — | — | 0 | — | 0 | — |
| VIC - Other | — | — | 0 | — | 0 | 14 |
| WA Wheat Belt | <11 | <11 | — | — | 25 | 1,676 |
| Shown | ≥ 16,596 | ≥ 8,985 | ≥ 25,581 | 65% | 14 suppressed cells excluded | |