SIL homes in Melbourne, with support that fits like family.
SIL is more than help around the house. It is waking up somewhere that feels like yours, beside people you choose, with a team who actually knows you. This is independent living, supported — the way it should have always been.
Your SIL home
A place that’s truly yours
Your housemates
Today
Next support
Today · 2:00pm
Meds given
8:05am ✓
Cooking goal
2/3 this week
From your team
“Great day today 💙”
Will they be okay — without me there?
For most families, SIL does not start with paperwork. It starts at 2am, with a question that is hard to say out loud: what happens to the person I love when I can no longer do this alone?
Maybe the caring has quietly become too much. Maybe a young adult is ready for a life of their own. Maybe a hospital is asking where they will go next. It is a tender, enormous moment — and too often it is met with waitlists, jargon and group homes that feel like a step backwards.
It should not be that way. Moving into supported living can be the beginning of something better: more independence, more connection, more life. Our entire job is to make that true.
You are not handing someone over. You are building them a future — and you should never have to do it alone.
What Supported Independent Living actually is
Supported Independent Living (SIL) is NDIS-funded support for the everyday tasks of living in your own home — so you can live as independently as possible, with help on hand for the things that are harder.
Help with daily life
Personal care, cooking, cleaning, medication prompts, getting ready for the day — as much or as little as you need, delivered with dignity.
Building real skills
SIL is not about doing everything for you. It is about building the confidence and skills to do more for yourself, at your pace.
In a home you share or your own
SIL is most often delivered in a shared home with one to three housemates, but it can also support you living on your own.
Around the clock, if needed
From a few hours a day to active overnight and 24/7 support, your "roster of care" is built around your real needs.
The one thing everyone gets confused about
SIL is the support, not the house. SIL funding pays for the people who help you — not your rent, board, food or bills. The home itself is funded separately (often through SDA, a private rental, or shared living arrangements). Knowing this changes everything about how you plan.
SIL, SDA, MTA, STA — decoded.
Four acronyms that get tangled constantly. Here is the one-line difference — so you know exactly what you are asking for.
Everything SIL can cover
Your support is built around you — take what you need, leave what you do not. Here is the full range.
Meals & nutrition
Planning, shopping and cooking together — building kitchen confidence along the way.
Personal care
Showering, dressing and grooming with privacy, patience and respect.
Health & medication
Medication prompts, appointment support and coordination with your health team.
A clean, calm home
Cleaning, laundry and household tasks — and the skills to take them on yourself.
Connection & community
Support to see friends, join in, get to activities and feel part of your neighbourhood.
Getting around
Help with travel, transport and building independence out in the world.
Life skills
Budgeting, routines, cooking, communication — growing capability week by week.
Overnight support
Sleepover or active-overnight support, so the house feels safe at every hour.
Is SIL right for you?
Answer a few questions and watch your match build in real time. Nothing is saved, no sign-up — just an honest, instant read on whether SIL fits where you are heading.
How much day-to-day support do you need at home?
Pick an answer to start building your match.
Private & instant. We never store your quiz answers.
SIL is likely a good fit if…
- You need regular help with daily tasks and want to live more independently.
- You are moving out of the family home, hospital, or aged care into a place of your own.
- You would thrive with consistent support and, if you choose, the company of housemates.
- Your NDIS goals include independence, capacity-building and community participation.
- You need overnight or 24/7 support to live safely outside an institutional setting.
SIL might not be the right tool if…
- You only need a few hours of help here and there — a Core "daily living" support may fit better.
- Your main need is the housing itself — you may be looking for SDA or help finding a rental.
- You are after short-term or respite support — look at STA or MTA instead.
- You want purely clinical or therapy support — that is usually funded separately.
Not sure where you sit? That is exactly what a Meet & Greet is for. We will tell you honestly — even if the honest answer is "a different support would serve you better."
How SIL funding actually works
SIL is funded from your NDIS Core Supports budget. It is one of the larger supports the NDIS funds, so the NDIA looks closely at what is "reasonable and necessary" for you. Here is the journey in plain English.
Your support needs are assessed
We map exactly what help you need across a typical week and night — clearly, with evidence.
A "roster of care" is built
This turns your needs into hours and support ratios (1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 shared with housemates), which sets the cost.
The NDIA reviews & funds it
The roster of care and a SIL quote go to the NDIA. Once approved, SIL funding sits in your plan.
You stay in control
You see how your funding is used. We flag underspend or change before it becomes a problem — your plan, fully realised.
SIL pays for: Your support workers and the day-to-day help they provide.
SIL does not pay for: Rent, board, food, utilities or everyday living costs — those stay with you.
Sharing lowers cost: Shared ratios (1:2, 1:3) make support more efficient — and can mean built-in company.
Housing is separate: The home is funded through SDA, a rental or private arrangement — we help you line both up.
A real conversation
You reach out. Within about two hours a real person responds — no call centre, no script. We listen first.
You feel heard, and a little lighter.
Step 1 of 6 · scroll to follow the journey
The myths that hold families back — and the truth.
Most hesitation about SIL comes from old ideas about what it means. Tap each one to see what modern Supported Independent Living is really like.
What a good SIL day can feel like
Meet a picture of an ordinary Tuesday — composed from the kind of days our participants live. Not a timetable. A life.
Liam wakes to a familiar knock — same support worker he has had for months. A shower at his pace, a coffee, and a plan for the day they make together.
Lunch in the kitchen with his housemate. He chops, she stirs — both building skills they once needed done for them. The radio is on. Someone is laughing.
A lift to his community footy program. Support fades into the background — present if needed, invisible if not. He is just one of the team.
Dinner, a show, a message to Mum through the family portal so she can see he is happy. Tonight an overnight worker is on. The house is calm. He is home.
No drama. No institution. Just a full, ordinary, chosen life — which, for the family who once lay awake at 2am, is everything.
The cure for the 2am worry, in your pocket.
With Gencare OS, the people who love a participant can see how their day actually went — gently, respectfully, the moment it happens. No phone tag. No black box. Just peace of mind.
See the day as it happens
Visit notes, photos from an outing, what they ate, how they slept — visible the moment they are logged.
Medication, confirmed
A clear log shows medications were given, on time — so you never have to wonder or chase.
Calm, not surveillance
Just enough to put your mind at ease at 9pm — shared with consent, never a camera in their home.
Had a brilliant time — kicked a few goals with the team.
On time, as prescribed.
Made pasta — building kitchen confidence.
An illustrative sample of the family view — not a real participant.
You are not handing them to strangers — you are joining a family.
The hardest part of choosing SIL is trust. So here is what families and coordinators say after they have made the leap with us.
When Liam first moved out, I could not sleep past 2am. The first time a worker posted a check-in photo and updated his medication log on Gencare OS, I slept through the night — for the first time in two years.
“For the first time, my home actually feels like mine. I cook, I host friends, I run my own days.”
“As a support coordinator, I refer to providers I can trust to actually communicate. Gencare is the one I never have to chase — the transparency is a different league.”
“The housemate matching is what sold me. They did not just fill a room — they found my son people he genuinely gets along with. The house feels like a home.”
SIL, the Gencare way.
The same NDIS funding, a completely different experience — because the details we refuse to compromise on are the ones that make a house a home.
We match, we do not place
Housemate and worker matching on personality, routines and values — because who you live and spend your days with matters more than a vacancy.
Consistency you can feel
The same trusted faces, week after week. We protect continuity of support fiercely — it is the difference between a service and a home.
Radical transparency
Through Gencare OS, families can see visits, notes and plan progress as they happen. No chasing, no black box — just trust, built in.
Safe, and proven
A registered NDIS provider, independently audited, fully insured, with 100% worker-screened teams and clear safeguarding and incident management.
One team for everything
SIL, the right home, allied health, coordination and family communication — joined up, so you are never handed off or repeating your story.
Care that is actually warm
We hire for heart and train for skill. The result is support that feels personal — because to us, you are a person, never a placement.
Supported Independent Living, answered
SIL is NDIS-funded support with everyday tasks in your own home — things like cooking, cleaning, personal care, medication prompts and building life skills — so you can live as independently as possible. It can be delivered in a shared home or in your own place, from a few hours a day up to 24/7 support.
No — and this is the most important thing to understand. SIL is the support (the people who help you), not the house. SIL funding does not pay rent or living costs. The home itself is funded separately, often through Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), a private rental, or a shared living arrangement.
SIL is funded from your NDIS Core Supports budget. The cost is based on a "roster of care" — the hours and support ratios (1:1, 1:2 or 1:3) you need across a typical week and night. The NDIA reviews this against what is reasonable and necessary for you before approving the funding in your plan.
No, but sharing is common because it is efficient and can be genuinely social. Shared support ratios (e.g. 1:2 or 1:3) lower the cost per person and often build in company. If living on your own is right for you, SIL can support that too — we match the model to you.
Yes. Choice is the heart of good SIL. At Gencare we carefully match housemates and support workers on personality, routines and values — and we protect continuity so you see the same trusted faces. You are never simply "placed".
SIL is generally for people with higher daily support needs who want to live independently — often those moving out of the family home, hospital or aged care, or who need overnight or 24/7 support. The NDIA assesses eligibility based on your support needs and goals. The quickest way to know is a free Meet & Greet, where we will give you an honest read on your options.
It varies with your situation, housing and NDIA timelines, but the journey usually runs across several weeks: an initial conversation and Meet & Greet, an assessment of your support needs, home and housemate matching, then settling in. We keep you informed at every step and move as quickly as a good match allows.
Your roster of care is reviewed as you grow. Many people need less support over time as their skills and confidence build; others need more for a season. We adjust with you and work with the NDIA at plan reviews so your support always reflects real life.
SIL is not something you apply for on its own — it is assessed as part of your NDIS plan. In practice that means gathering evidence of your daily support needs (usually occupational therapy and allied health reports), building a roster of care that shows the support you need across a typical week, and putting that case to the NDIA at a planning meeting or plan review. It is detailed work, and it is exactly what a Support Coordinator or our team can prepare with you. You do not have to build the case alone.
Yes. If your needs change — more support, less support, or a different living arrangement — you can request a review rather than waiting for your scheduled one. This is called a change of circumstances. The NDIA will want evidence of what has changed, which is one reason we keep clear records of the support actually delivered. If things shift, tell us early and we will help you make the case.
Yes. Gencare is headquartered in Melbourne and our largest, most established team works across the western suburbs — with our footprint actively expanding into Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and regional Victoria. Tell us where you are and we will give you an honest answer about what is available near you.
Supports that pair well with SIL
Supported Independent Living across Melbourne and Victoria.
A SIL home is only the right home if it is in the right place — near the people you love, the services you rely on, and the life you already have. These are the regions our teams work in today.
If your area is not on this list, it does not automatically mean no — our footprint is still growing, and some supports can begin before a local team is fully established. Tell us where you are and we will give you an honest answer about what is available near you.
Let us find the right home, together.
A warm, no-pressure Meet & Greet — we listen first, you decide everything. A real person replies within ~2 hours.