This report includes the results of the Housing Hub's second annual Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) Provider Experience Survey. In total, 41 providers completed the survey. Between them, these providers were offering 1,452 places for tenants in their 779 New Build SDA dwellings, representing almost one-quarter of all New Build SDA dwellings (21.8%) and places (22.4%) in the market.

The report contains a detailed analysis of the survey results. It also includes a series of recommendations for the NDIA, to ensure its stewardship of the SDA market maximises positive outcomes for both participants and providers.

Key findings:

• The overall vacancy rates reported have been mostly steady over the past three years. Approximately one-quarter (25.5%) of the respondents’ New Build SDA places were vacant at the time of the survey, which is similar to the rate reported in the 2022 SDA Provider Experience Survey (24.3%) and only slightly smaller than the rate in 2021 (30.5%).
• The building configurations with the lowest vacancy rates were High Physical Support Apartments (14.0%), Fully Accessible Villas/Townhouses/Duplexes (20.0%) and Robust Villas/Townhouses/Duplexes (22.0%).
• One of the most challenging aspects of filling New Build SDA vacancies was the time the NDIA takes to make SDA decisions, which was rated as ‘extremely challenging’ by 62.5% providers (down from 76.2% in 2022 and 76.9% in 2021).
• Overall, there was little to no improvement in various challenges associated with finding tenants and filling vacancies since 2021.