Medium Term Accommodation is the NDIS support almost nobody has heard of until the week they desperately need it: the person is ready to leave hospital, or a living arrangement has ended, and the long-term housing answer is months away. MTA exists for exactly that gap. This guide explains what it funds, when it applies, and what evidence helps a request move quickly, because MTA requests are almost always urgent by the time they are made.
What MTA funds
Medium Term Accommodation (MTA) funds somewhere for a person to live, typically for up to 90 days, while they wait for a confirmed long-term housing solution. It is transitional by design: a bridge between where the person is now and a permanent arrangement that is already in motion but not ready.
Two features define it. First, it funds the accommodation itself, which is unusual: the NDIS generally expects people to pay their own housing costs, and MTA is one of the specific exceptions. Second, it is tied to a confirmed destination: MTA is not funding to look for housing, it is funding to wait for housing that is already coming, such as an SDA dwelling under construction, a SIL vacancy being finalised, or home modifications being built.
The situations MTA is built for
- Hospital discharge with nowhere suitable to go. The person is medically ready to leave, the long-term plan exists, but the housing or supports are not in place yet. MTA prevents the choice between an unsafe discharge and an unnecessary hospital stay.
- Waiting for SDA or SIL to be ready. A dwelling is being built or modified, or a vacancy is being finalised, and the person’s current arrangement cannot hold until then.
- Waiting for home modifications. Major works can make a home temporarily unliveable, or the person cannot safely return until they are done.
- A living arrangement that has ended. An informal arrangement has broken down, a carer can no longer continue, and the long-term answer is agreed but not available.
What MTA is not: a general housing safety net, a way to fund respite (that is STA), or a substitute for getting the long-term evidence right. Requests framed that way tend to stall at exactly the moment nobody can afford a stall.
MTA and STA are different tools
They get confused because both are shortish stays away from a usual arrangement. STA (Short Term Accommodation) funds short stays and respite, often planned in blocks, frequently for capacity building or to sustain informal carers. MTA funds the interim home in a transition to a confirmed long-term arrangement. STA is a break; MTA is a bridge. If the reason for the stay is “the carer needs relief” it is an STA conversation; if it is “the new housing is not ready”, it is MTA.
What evidence helps an MTA request move
Because MTA is transitional, the evidence has three jobs, and speed matters for all of them:
- Show the gap is real. Why the current arrangement cannot continue: the discharge date, the ended tenancy, the unliveable home, evidenced concretely rather than asserted.
- Show the destination is confirmed. What the long-term arrangement is and when it is realistically ready: the build timeline, the vacancy confirmation, the modification schedule.
- Show the interim arrangement is workable. That the person can actually function and be supported in the proposed MTA setting for the interim period, which is where an occupational therapist’s functional evidence earns its place, especially where the person’s needs make many interim settings unsuitable.
Where an MTA request sits inside a bigger home and living transition, the functional assessment usually serves both at once: the same evidence that supports the long-term SDA, SIL or modification request also establishes what the person needs in the interim. That is the efficient sequence, and we build our home and living assessments with it in mind.
Timing honesty
The situations that trigger MTA rarely give anyone 90 days of notice, and evidence assembled in a panic is how gaps happen. If a hospital discharge is even plausibly heading towards a housing gap, or an SDA build has a completion date, the time to line up the functional evidence is before the deadline arrives. Referrals to us are acknowledged within 2 business days, and where a discharge date is driving the timeline, say so at referral and we plan around it.
Frequently asked questions
Is MTA always limited to 90 days?
Typically MTA is funded for up to 90 days, and treating that as the planning envelope is wise. Individual decisions, including what happens when transitions run long, belong to the NDIA, so confirm current settings with your planner or support coordinator rather than building a plan that assumes an extension.
Does MTA cover rent and normal living costs?
MTA funds the interim accommodation itself. Day-to-day living costs generally remain the person’s own, as they would anywhere. The exact boundaries are set by the NDIA’s current rules, so check the specifics for your situation.
Can MTA be used while looking for somewhere to live?
MTA is designed for waiting on a confirmed arrangement, not searching for one. Where no destination exists yet, the conversation is really about the long-term request, and the fastest way forward is getting that evidence right. Our supporting evidence guide covers what that file needs.
Who arranges the actual MTA property?
Providers offer MTA settings, and support coordinators usually run the search and the logistics. Our role is the functional evidence: what the person needs any interim setting to provide, and the assessment behind the long-term arrangement the MTA is bridging to.
Sources
- NDIS guidance on Medium Term Accommodation, ndis.gov.au, accessed August 2026. Rules, durations and boundaries change; confirm the current position with the NDIA, your planner or your support coordinator.