Housing Hub webinar explores NDIS Individualised Living Options

The 26-year-old, who has Down syndrome, shares a home with two other young men through a new housing program under the National Insurance Disability Scheme.

Individualised Living Options offer people with disabilities an alternative to group homes and the chance for greater independence and choice in their lives.

"It's about making sure you've got the right support to live in your home as you want to and need to," Alecia Rathbone, the general manager of disability accommodation website Housing Hub, told The Border Mail.

On Monday, October 11, noon to 1.30pm, a webinar, ILO and Beyond - Individualised Living in Action, will introduce Ned, his family and supportive housemates and also outline the initiative's potential.

Albury's Jan Gouma, who plans to attend the online event, encouraged people with disabilities and their families to learn more.

"If you have the information, you're able to make an informed decision," she said.

"As (son Curt's) advocate, it's in my interests to know as much as I can about the latest support mechanisms that are available through the NDIS.

"It's a great innovation, but I need to know more about it."

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Ms Rathbone said Individualised Living Options offered a combination of support that could link in with people already part of the participant's life.

"You might actually have more opportunity to live in the community and you might live with someone who's a flatmate who helps you out with things, you might have a neighbour who comes around and checks on you once in a while and then you might also have some rostered support that comes in and out at different times," she said.

With housemates like Ned's in a regional town, "everyday guys going to uni or about their lives, they're around, they might prompt you, 'It's time for dinner, let's all make dinner together'.

"So there's someone there with you but you don't need a support worker all the time."

The benefits are not just one-way - Nic, one of Ned's housemates, said their rent was paid through Ned's NDIS plan in exchange for the work they did with him.

"It costs us nothing to live here, which is amazing," he said.

Ms Rathbone said those interested should explore and document their needs, then apply for NDIS funding, with dedicated ILO organisations able to assist.

"It is new but it also needs to be done really well, so that people do have the right level of support and are not putting themselves at risk unduly," she said.

More details and registration available on the Housing Hub website.

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