A row of white terraced houses with gardens and iron fences in Melbourne.
Terraced houses in Melbourne, Australia. Illustrative photograph; these are not identified as homes in the report.
Photo: Rexness · CC BY-SA 2.0. Image unchanged.

Inclusion Australia is calling for people who receive Supported Independent Living (SIL) to have a central role in shaping and assessing their support. Its contribution to an Australian Government consultation brings together a policy submission and a report on residents’ experiences, presented on the organisation’s website on 21 October 2026.

SIL provides support for people with disabilities who need help to live in their own home. The government is considering a commissioning approach, giving it a larger role in identifying which services are needed, where they are needed and what quality should mean.

A home shaped by the people living there

The September report draws on interviews conducted in August with 21 people with intellectual disabilities across 11 SIL sites. Twenty were interviewed in Victoria and one in the Northern Territory. This was a small qualitative project, not a representative survey of everyone receiving SIL.

Participants described very different experiences. Some valued friendships with housemates, supportive staff and opportunities to pursue interests. Others had little influence over where they lived, who shared their home or decisions about food and furnishings.

The report identifies an important distinction: being happy or settled in a home does not necessarily mean a person had a genuine choice about living there. Some participants had never considered moving because they did not believe it was an option.

Communication also affected people’s ability to direct support. Staff needed to understand how each person communicated and make sure communication equipment was available. The report connects these everyday practices with safety and participation in decisions.

Independent checks and meaningful choices

In its submission, Inclusion Australia calls for regular independent monitoring that includes visits to homes and direct conversations with residents. It wants access to independent advocacy for every person receiving SIL, with additional support for people who lack informal networks.

The organisation also recommends separating housing, formal decision support and support coordination from SIL service provision. It argues that providers should not control the support people receive to make decisions about their own living arrangements.

Choosing a home should reflect relationships, communication, culture and personal preferences. Inclusion Australia opposes placing someone in an unsuitable household merely to fill a vacancy. It wants people to be able to leave unsafe arrangements without waiting for their provider to find another vacancy.

People with intellectual disabilities should help evaluate services as peer auditors and consumer experts, the submission proposes. Accessible information about rights, complaints and changing providers would support their participation.

Residents’ experience as a measure of quality

Inclusion Australia argues that selecting providers alone will not guarantee better support. It wants independent oversight, accountability and genuine choice built into the proposed model, with residents’ experiences helping to determine whether services deliver safe, stable homes and a life in the community.

Sources

  1. Improving Supported Independent Living (October 2026)
  2. Inclusion Australia: submissions index (entry dated 21 October 2026) (2026-10-21)
  3. What people with intellectual disability told us about Supported Independent Living (SIL) (September 2026)
  4. Supported Independent Living (SIL) Commissioning: consultation submission (2026)

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