Medium term accommodation (MTA) in Melbourne, a comfortable home while your long-term housing is sorted.

Short term accommodation (STA) is a stay of up to 14 days at a time, usually 28 days a year, with support included: respite, a trial or a brief bridge. Medium term accommodation (MTA) is a room for up to about 90 days while a confirmed long-term home is made ready; it pays for the accommodation only and support is funded separately. Supported Independent Living (SIL) is ongoing daily support in your long-term home. Many people use two of the three in sequence.

The NDIS guideline is generally up to 90 days, as a one-off. It can be extended where there is evidence that your long-term home will take longer, for example a builder's timeline or an SDA vacancy date beyond 90 days, but the evidence has to go to the NDIA before the decision. We keep track of the end date with you and your coordinator from the first week so nothing is left to the last minute.

Yes, and this is the most common way we provide it. When you are medically ready for discharge but your home needs modifications, your SIL room is not yet ready or your plan is being changed, MTA gives you somewhere safe to go while that happens. We work with the ward social worker or discharge planner and the NDIA health liaison officer, and take the nursing handover ourselves.

No. MTA funds the accommodation only. You pay for food, internet, electricity and your usual personal costs, as you would at home. If you need help with cooking, shopping or managing money during the stay, that comes from your support worker or SIL funding, not from the MTA line. We set out the costs in writing before you move in so there are no surprises.

Then MTA is unlikely to be funded, because the NDIA requires a confirmed home to move into. If you are waiting on a social housing list, or your SDA application has not been decided, we are honest about that. We look instead at STA for a short gap, at whether SIL in one of our homes is a realistic long-term option, and at getting the housing evidence moving with your coordinator.

Yes. Support funding in your plan is yours to use wherever you live, so existing workers or providers can keep supporting you in the MTA home. If you prefer, our own team can take over for the stay, which is simpler when nursing and overnight support are involved. Either way, the room and the support are separate agreements, and you can change one without the other.

Yes. Hospital social workers, discharge planners and NDIA health liaison officers refer to us regularly. Send the referral with the expected discharge date, support needs, equipment and any behaviour support plan, and we respond the same day with a yes, a no, or what would need to change. Our intake team is on 03 5998 0717 and replies within minutes in business hours.

We provide MTA in our homes in Melbourne's south-east and Gippsland when a room is available, and we never promise a room we do not have. At the moment our Traralgon home has a room available; our Pakenham home is full. Our Caboolture and West Perth offices offer the same in Queensland and Western Australia. Current vacancies are listed on our accommodation page.