The south-west is slowly meeting its disability housing demand but a service provider says they're relying more on charities and investors than government funding.
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Latest NDIS Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) data shows the region is doing slightly better than the rest of the country when it comes to meeting disability housing demand.
The data revealed 20.2 per cent of south-west NDIS participants were found to be in SDA need, compared to the country's 22.4 per cent in September 2022.
The figures include people in SDA seeking alternative housing and those not in SDA seeking vacancies.
Glenelg and Southern Grampians were the standout combined council areas with a SDA need of 13.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, Warrnambool, Moyne, Coranagmite and Colac Otway councils recorded 21.9 per cent of participants requiring a suitable home or further accommodation support.
Portland's Kyeema Support Services chief executive officer Julie Amor said while she thought the region was doing a "reasonable job" meeting disability housing demand, the majority of funding for the builds were coming from the business or philanthropic trusts.
"SDA builds are very expensive as they have to comply with very high standards," she said.
"The community and a couple of philanthropic trusts have helped us with funds but over 90 per cent of the cost of the build is funded by Kyeema.
"We don't yet have the full set of residents signed up (to disability homes) as the processes for obtaining ... funding from the NDIS is really slow."
Kyeema has two new disability homes on Palmer Street in Portland scheduled to be completed in April this year.
The accommodation will provide high physical support - the highest level of care for SDAs - to five residents and a team of sleepover staff.
Ms Amor said there had been investors supporting these new builds but they were only willing to do so as the residents approved for the accommodation were receiving SDA payments from the NDIS.
"(That) payment covers the actual bricks-and-mortar dwelling and is only obtained by six per cent of people with a disability," she said.
"There are now investors in the market happy to build (with Kyeema) as there is a decent return on investment for them."
Ms Amor said she would have otherwise struggled to get funding to build the new homes due to the large amounts of red tape and lengthy wait times often experienced with the NDIS.
"We've waited for over a year for a couple of people," she said.
"How do you plan for your future if you don't know what funding you've got?"
A National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) spokesperson said the average wait time for SDA decisions in the September 2022 quarter was 23 days.
"(We're) committed to ensuring all participants have access to the disability-related supports they require and that all eligible participants have the right housing supports funded in their plan," she said.
"The NDIA welcomes information and feedback from participants, NDIS providers and the disability sector more broadly on how the NDIA can improve and grow the market to ensure the right outcomes for eligible NDIS participants are achieved."
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She said she would have otherwise struggled to get funding to build the new homes due to the large amounts of red tape and lengthy wait times often experienced with the NDIS.
"We've waited for over a year for a couple of people," she said.
"I know they're trying really hard to reduce those times, and it'll be very good when they do, but it's hard for people to know where they stand.
"How do you plan for your future if you don't know what funding you've got?"
Ms Amor said the difficulty in getting accommodation funding was also forcing people with high-needs disability onto social housing waitlists which were already bloated in the region.
A National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) spokesperson said the average wait time for SDA decisions in the September 2022 quarter was 23 days and was working to improve its application process.
"(We're) committed to ensuring all participants have access to the disability-related supports they require and that all eligible participants have the right housing supports funded in their plan," she said.
"The NDIA welcomes information and feedback from participants, NDIS providers and the disability sector more broadly on how the NDIA can improve and grow the market to ensure the right outcomes for eligible NDIS participants are achieved."
The Department of Social Services (DSS) also said it was working with providers to expand disability housing availability.
"Specialist disability accommodation providers must notify the NDIA within five business day of vacancies arising in an SDA dwelling," the DSS spokesperson said.
"This is to ensure that those who have enrolled interest ... can be offered as quickly as possible into accommodation that is suitable to their needs.
"Further, NDIS participants are able to use the SDA Finder to understand the list of vacancies in their local area."
The DSS spokesperson said the federal government's review of the NDIS would also look at areas for improvement for specialist disability accommodation.
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