7 questions to ask on a SIL home visit

A Supported Independent Living (SIL) home is somewhere you’ll live, with people you’ll see every day. Photographs don’t tell you what that’s like. A visit does — if you ask the right questions.

Take the checklist at the end of this page with you. Tick things off as you go, and write the answers down: after two or three homes, they blur.

1. Do the doorways and bathroom work for you?

Don’t take “accessible” on trust — ask what it means in this home. Can you get through every door you’ll need to? Does the shower, the toilet and the space around them work for how you move? If you use a wheelchair, bring it and try. If a provider can’t tell you a measurement, ask them to take it.

2. Who is there overnight?

SIL is support around the clock, but overnight can look very different from one home to the next. Ask who is there, whether they’re awake or asleep on call, and what happens if you need help in the middle of the night.

3. Who would you be living with?

Housemates decide whether a house works, because you’ll see them every day. Ask who lives there, what their days look like, and whether you can meet them before anyone decides. A good provider will make sure the people already living there have a say too.

4. What’s the street like?

Look outside the front door. What’s within walking distance — shops, a park, the nearest bus stop or train station? Is the street busy, or quiet? If you can, walk to the corner and back. The right home in the wrong spot can make every outing hard work.

5. How are your health needs supported?

If you have health or medication needs, ask exactly who supports them, and how. If you need nursing support, ask whether the provider is registered to deliver it — you can check on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Commission’s register.

6. How do you raise a concern?

Ask who you’d talk to if something was wrong, what happens next, and how you’d hear back. You can also always go straight to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission on 1800 035 544, at any time, without telling the provider first.

7. What happens if it doesn’t work out?

It’s a fair question, and a good provider won’t flinch at it. Ask how much notice you’d give, and whether you could change provider without losing your home — or change home without changing provider. Ask who you’d tell, and what help you’d get to move on.

And one more: what will it cost you?

Your SIL funding pays for support, not the house. Rent, board and bills come from your own income. Ask what you’ll pay each week — as a real number, not a range. Our guide to what SIL funding pays for explains who pays what.

When you’re ready, see our current vacancies — each one shows the date it was last checked.