A Short Stay Somewhere Else, Properly Supported
Short term accommodation, often called respite, is a stay away from your usual home with support workers there through it. We support participants across Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane and Bayside.
Time apart that is meant to do both of you some good.
What is NDIS short term accommodation, or STA?
Short term accommodation is NDIS funding for a short stay away from your usual home, covering the place, the support, meals and activities together.
How it works
A stay is planned in advance: where it will be, how long, who is going and what support is needed. Most stays are shared, with a small group and set staffing, though one to one happens where the plan calls for it. Workers are there through the stay, including overnight. Your routine travels with you.
Not only for a break
Plenty of people use STA as a trial run rather than a rest: a few nights away to see whether living somewhere with support could work, before anyone commits to it. That is a legitimate use of the funding and often the more useful one.
How this is different from our other supports
If the break happens at home, with a worker coming to you while your carer goes out, that is Assistance with Daily Life rather than STA. STA means sleeping somewhere else. Supported Independent Living is the permanent version of the same idea, and a lot of people try STA first. If you are not sure which fits, call us and we will help you work it out.
What a short term accommodation stay includes
An STA booking bundles a few things together, and from 1 July 2026 they are claimed as separate items rather than one daily rate. This is what a stay usually covers. If you are not sure what yours would include, call us.
Somewhere to stay the night
A bed somewhere suitable, worked out with you rather than assigned, and now priced separately from support.
Personal care through the stay
Showering, dressing, medication and the routine you have at home, kept going while you are away from it.
Meals during the stay
Food is included in the package, planned around what you actually eat and any dietary needs you already have.
Activities you agree on
Outings and activities are part of the stay. Tickets and entry fees are not, so those still come from you.
Support through the night
Someone is there overnight, either awake or sleeping over, depending on what your support needs call for.
Getting there and back
Transport to and from the stay gets worked out beforehand, so nobody is left scrambling on the morning.
A carer who gets a real break
Not a break spent on call. Knowing the arrangement is solid is most of what makes it work.
Trying it before deciding
A few nights away can answer questions about living elsewhere that no meeting ever will.
Somewhere different for a bit
Adults get bored of the same four walls. A short stay elsewhere is allowed to just be that.
Practising time away from home
For some people the first night away is the hard part. Doing it once makes the next one easier.
Something planned to look forward to
Booked stays give the year some shape, for you and for whoever usually does the supporting.
What this support can help you work towards
Your goals set the direction, and the stay is planned around them. The NDIA describes STA as time apart that should be rewarding for both sides, which is a fair way to put it: it is not only a break for someone else.
How to get started
Families put this off because asking for a break feels like admitting something. It is not. The funding exists because the arrangement at home only holds if everyone in it gets a rest.
Get in touch
Call or send an enquiry. Tell us the suburb, roughly when you are thinking, how many nights, and what support is needed overnight.
Plan the stay
We work through where the stay would be, who else would be there, and what the routine needs to look like. We will also be straight about what your funding is likely to cover.
Go, then review
The first stay is the one that tells you most. Afterwards we ask what worked and what did not, and the next one gets planned differently. Nobody is locked into anything.
Where this sits in an NDIS plan
STA sits in the Core supports part of a plan, usually up to 28 days a year and no more than 14 days in one stay, which you can split up or take as a block. The thing people get wrong is treating it as a holiday budget. It is not funded as a holiday, as general accommodation, or as crisis housing, and it cannot duplicate what a hospital or aged care already provides. Since 1 July 2026 the pieces are claimed separately rather than as one daily rate, so ask for a written quote. Every plan is different, so nothing here is a promise about your funding. Your support coordinator can confirm what yours allows, or call us on 1300 544 958.
Other supports that might suit
A stay away is usually part of a bigger picture. These are the supports people look at alongside it, or instead of it.
Supported Independent Living
Support with daily life where someone needs help around the home on an ongoing basis, planned as a living arrangement rather than set visits.
Assistance with Daily Life
Help with showering, dressing, meals and daily routines at home, which is how a break works when nobody is actually going away.
High Intensity Support
The eight complex daily activities, like bowel care, enteral feeding and tracheostomy support, delivered by workers prepared for one person.
NDIS short term accommodation across Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane and Bayside
Hope & Integrity is based in Logan and our workers live across the region. A stay away works better when the people supporting you are not strangers, and when the family can drive over in twenty minutes if something comes up. Distance makes both of those harder.
Areas we support:
Start with a simple conversation
Tell us roughly when you are thinking, how many nights, and what support is needed overnight. We will talk through what a stay could look like and be straight about what we can and cannot arrange. If a stay away is not the right answer, we will say so and suggest what might be.
Supporting participants across Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane and Bayside · Open Mon to Fri, 9:00am to 5:00pm
Questions about NDIS short term accommodation
The questions participants, families and support coordinators ask us most.
Is short term accommodation the same as respite?
Mostly, yes. Respite is the older word and most people still use it. The NDIA renamed short term accommodation to short term respite in late 2025, then changed it back, on feedback that respite put the focus on the carer rather than the participant. So short term accommodation is the current term and it is what your plan will say. One real difference is worth knowing. If the break happens at home, with a worker coming to you while your carer goes out, that is not STA at all. That is claimed as assistance with daily life instead.
How many days do I get, and what does it pay for?
Usually up to 28 days a year, with no more than 14 days in any one stay, and you can split that into weekends or take it as a block. The package covers the accommodation, your support workers, meals and agreed activities. It does not cover tickets, entry fees or tourist costs, so anything you go and do is paid for the way anyone else pays for it. Since 1 July 2026 those pieces are claimed as separate items rather than one bundled daily rate, so ask for the price in writing. Every plan is different, so nothing here is a promise about your funding.
Who actually qualifies for STA funding?
It hinges on how much unpaid care you rely on. Adults generally need informal supports providing around six hours of disability-related care a day, on average. One thing people get wrong: you do not have to live with that carer to qualify. If a parent, partner or friend is doing that much for you from another address, that still counts. Your support coordinator can help you put the case together.
Where would the stay actually happen?
That gets worked out with you rather than assigned. A stay might be in a house set up for it, or in accessible accommodation booked for the dates, depending on what is available and what the support needs. We will tell you exactly where before you agree to anything, and you are welcome to see it or ask questions first. What we will not do is describe a place we cannot actually get you into.
Can we book at short notice or in an emergency?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on what is free. Planned stays are much easier to get right, because the routine, staffing and place can all be sorted properly. In a crisis, call and we will tell you quickly whether we can help rather than leave you on a maybe. STA is not funded as crisis housing, though, so that is a different conversation.
Still have a question?
Call our local team on 1300 544 958. We will answer it plainly, even if the answer is that we are not the right fit.