Supported Residential Facilities (SRFs) in SA

The short answer

A Supported Residential Facility (SRF) is a privately run home in South Australia that provides accommodation with personal care. SRFs are licensed by local councils under the Supported Residential Facilities Act 1992 (SA). Residents pay board and care from their own income. NDIS-funded supports can be delivered inside an SRF, but the NDIS does not pay the board.

Supported Residential Facilities are a South Australian category of housing that sits between a boarding house and an aged care home. They predate the NDIS by decades, and many people are unsure how they fit alongside Supported Independent Living and Specialist Disability Accommodation.

This guide explains what an SRF is in law, who tends to live in one and how it is paid for. It then compares SRFs with the NDIS housing and support options and lists what to check before anyone moves in.

What an SRF is under the Supported Residential Facilities Act 1992

The Act defines a supported residential facility as premises at which, for monetary or other consideration (whether or not for profit), residential accommodation is provided or offered together with personal care services. Personal care services include nursing care and assistance or supervision with bathing, toileting, dressing, eating, mobility, medication, and managing personal finances. The Act does not apply where two or fewer people receive personal care, or to hospitals and exempted Commonwealth-subsidised aged care homes.

The objects of the Act are to set standards for personal care in SRFs, to recognise and protect residents' rights, to make sure residents and prospective residents can readily find out the scope, quality and cost of care, and to make proprietors accountable. Its principles say residents are entitled to high quality care, to their own choice of doctor, to an informed choice about care, and to reasonable nutrition, comfort and shelter in a home-like environment.

The detailed rules sit in the Supported Residential Facilities Regulations 2024, which replaced the 2009 Regulations and cover licensing, prospectuses, resident contracts and service plans, standards of care, staffing, facilities and disputes. Both documents are on legislation.sa.gov.au. The Department of Human Services (DHS) is the responsible agency and ran a legislative review of the Act in 2024 aimed at a new Act that aligns better with the NDIS; as at October 2026 the review's outcome report had not been published on the consultation page.

SRFs are licensed by local councils

Unlike NDIS providers, who are regulated nationally by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, SRFs are licensed locally. Section 9 of the Act gives each council the function of administering and enforcing the Act within its area and of licensing the SRFs situated there, and section 10 makes the council the licensing authority for a facility in its area. The Minister becomes the licensing authority only where a facility is outside any council area, where the council itself is the proprietor, or where the council's powers have been withdrawn.

In practice this means council environmental health officers audit SRFs each year and assess documentation, cleanliness, maintenance and the standard of care before renewing a licence. The City of Port Adelaide Enfield, for example, describes annual audits with any non-compliance imposed as licence conditions. In the eastern suburbs several councils have delegated this work to the Eastern Health Authority, which also approves facility managers.

If you have a complaint about an SRF, councils ask that you raise it with the facility's management first and then contact the council's environmental health team. Disputes under the Act can go to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Who lives in an SRF, and what residents are entitled to

Councils describe SRF residents as people who need low-level help, including older people and people with physical disability, and the City of Port Adelaide Enfield notes that many residents have mental health conditions or intellectual disability. DHS's review material describes the sector as having grown more complex since the NDIS began, partly because the SRF Act and the NDIS Act do not align.

The Act gives every resident who receives personal care a set of documentary rights. The proprietor must prepare and display a prospectus describing the facility and its services and give a copy to any prospective resident. There must be a written resident contract covering the personal care services and the terms of residency, preceded by a prescribed information statement. And there must be a service plan for each resident, prepared in consultation with the resident or their representative, setting out the personal care to be provided day to day.

The Act also prescribes standards of care and gives residents rights around rescission of contracts, extension of care and dispute settlement. Ask for the prospectus, contract and service plan by name; a facility that cannot produce them is not meeting the Act.

SRF versus SIL, SDA and residential aged care

An SRF bundles housing and personal care into one private arrangement regulated by the State. Supported Independent Living is NDIS funding for support workers to help or supervise you in your home, usually shared with housemates; it pays for staff, never for rent or board, and the house itself is an ordinary tenancy or SDA. Specialist Disability Accommodation is NDIS-funded housing stock built for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs; residents pay a reasonable rent contribution and the NDIA pays the SDA provider for the building. The NDIA is clear that other than SDA it does not fund housing.

Residential aged care is a Commonwealth system for older people with its own funding, means testing and regulator. The SRF Act specifically allows the Minister to exempt Commonwealth-subsidised nursing homes and hostels, and councils point out that, unlike aged care facilities, SRFs do not receive Commonwealth residential care subsidies, so residents pay directly.

In SIL and SDA the funding attaches to the person's NDIS plan and the support provider is regulated nationally; in an SRF the resident pays a proprietor who is licensed locally. An SRF can suit someone who is not an NDIS participant or who wants a simpler all-in arrangement; an NDIS participant with high support needs will usually be better served by SIL.

How an SRF is paid for, and how the NDIS fits in

Residents pay the proprietor a board and care fee from their own income, usually the Disability Support Pension or Age Pension plus Commonwealth Rent Assistance. Council pages state that SRFs do not receive government subsidies and residents pay for their care directly. The State Government has in the past funded subsidies and support programs for residents of pension-only SRFs; we could not confirm the current form of that assistance on an official page during our check, so ask DHS or the facility what, if anything, is available now.

If a resident is an NDIS participant, their plan funding still belongs to them. NDIS providers can deliver supports to a person living in an SRF, such as community access, allied health or support coordination, and any such provider is bound by the NDIS Code of Conduct and can be complained about to the NDIS Commission. What NDIS funding cannot do is pay the SRF's board and lodging, because SIL and other core supports exclude rent, board and household costs, and the NDIA does not fund housing other than SDA.

The overlap to watch is personal care. If the resident contract already includes showering, medication and meals, an NDIS plan should not be billed for the same tasks at the same time. Put the split in writing with the proprietor and any NDIS provider.

Where to find SRFs in South Australia and what to ask before moving in

SRFs are concentrated in metropolitan Adelaide, with some in regional centres. There is no single public State register; the quickest route is to ask the local council's environmental health team which facilities it licenses, or to ask DHS. ResicareSA operates one SRF, Angas Court in Hawthorn (20 beds), alongside its NDIS homes.

Visit more than once, including at a mealtime. Bring the questions below and ask for the documents by name.

Is the facility currently licensed, which council licenses it, and who is the approved manager?
May I have the prospectus, the draft resident contract and the prescribed information statement to take away?
Exactly what personal care is included in the fee, and what costs extra?
What is the weekly fee, how is it calculated against my pension, and how and when can it change?
How are medications stored and administered, and by whom?
What are the staffing levels overnight and on weekends?
Can NDIS providers or my own GP, pharmacist and allied health come into the facility?
How do I end the contract, how much notice applies, and how are disputes handled?

What to do next

If you are weighing an SRF against NDIS options, check first whether the person is or could be an NDIS participant. That changes which path makes sense.

Read the Act and the 2024 Regulations on legislation.sa.gov.au, especially Part 5 on residents' rights
Call the local council's environmental health team to confirm the licence and ask about recent audit outcomes or complaints
Ask DHS about the Act review and about any current resident support programs
If the person has an NDIS plan, ask their support coordinator to map which supports the plan would fund inside the SRF and which the fee already covers

Questions people ask

What is a supported residential facility?

Under the Supported Residential Facilities Act 1992 (SA), it is premises where residential accommodation is provided together with personal care services for payment. Personal care means help with bathing, toileting, dressing, eating, mobility, medication or finances, or nursing care. SRFs are privately run, licensed by the local council, and residents pay a board and care fee from their own income.

Who licenses supported residential facilities in South Australia?

Local councils. Section 9 of the Act makes each council responsible for licensing SRFs in its area and enforcing the Act, and section 10 names the council as the licensing authority. Some councils delegate this to a regional health authority such as the Eastern Health Authority. The Minister is the licensing authority only outside council areas or where a council is the proprietor.

Is an SRF the same as SIL?

No. SIL is NDIS funding for support workers in your home and never pays for rent or board; the home is a separate tenancy or SDA. An SRF is a private facility that bundles accommodation and personal care into one fee paid by the resident. An NDIS participant can live in an SRF and still use plan funding for other supports.

Does the NDIS pay for a supported residential facility?

Not the board and lodging. The NDIA states it does not fund housing other than SDA, and SIL and other core supports exclude rent, board and household costs. NDIS funding can pay registered or, where allowed, unregistered providers to deliver supports to a participant living in an SRF, as long as those supports are not already covered by the SRF fee.

How much does an SRF cost in Adelaide?

Fees are set by each proprietor and are not published centrally. They are usually calculated as a proportion of the resident's pension and rent assistance and must be set out in the written resident contract required by the Act. Ask for the prospectus and contract, and ask exactly which personal care services are included before comparing facilities.

Who do I complain to about an SRF?

Start with the facility's manager. If that does not resolve it, contact the environmental health team at the council that licenses the facility; councils audit SRFs annually and can impose licence conditions. Disputes under the Act can go to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. If the concern is about an NDIS provider working inside the SRF, contact the NDIS Commission on 1800 035 544.