Housing Options Made Easy are taking on referrals for ILO Explore and Design – If you are looking for this support, please contact us using the form below:
About ILOs
Did you know that 94% of NDIS Participants will not receive funding to live in a traditional Group Home in Victoria, but Individualised Living Options (ILOs), might be the right option for yourself or someone that you care about?
When we talk with the families of the people that we support, we regularly hear that people want their adult child to live in a Group Home because it is a known entity and because people will be cared for in an ongoing way.
What we hear is that people are concerned about someone they care about who is vulnerable. They are worried about:
· Safety
· Security
· Ongoing support
· Accountability
What often gets missed is that for some living in a congregate care facility such as a group home, life experiences can sometimes range from not great, to downright terrible. People can find themselves living with others with whom they have nothing in common besides having a disability, eating food they don’t like, doing activities they don’t want to do, and even being told when they need to shower, sleep and wake up – all because it is convenient to staff or due to funding constraints.
ILO offers NDIS Participants the ability to have greater choice regarding where they live and who they live with. The work that we do at HOME supports people to have a genuine voice in designing their future. We walk alongside people to build a household based around their preferences, with their support needs deeply considered, a household in which they can maximize their independence and focus on social-inclusion and community.
Our model is different to other providers, in that we stay with people right throughout their ILO Journey, and we are not just a group of Support Coordinators who moonlight in the ILO space. We are a team of purists, and this is all that we do. Here is how we work:
Phase One – Explore and Design (E&D):
HOME has specifically recruited for the role of “Explore and Design Officer”. The main function of this person, is to get to know you and the people around you really well. As an NDIS Participant, your E&D Officer can support you to deeply think about what a great home looks like to you, and how the other parts of your supports can work in a way that keeps you at the center. We call this building a “vision” for your future ILO. Your E&D Officer can then support you to ask the NDIA for the right funding going forward so that you can feel confident in making your vision come to life in a sustainable way. This may include funding for formal supports like paid rostered staff (including sleepovers), ongoing monitoring and administrative assistance, someone to facilitate your arrangement, and other supports like funding to live with a person from the community as a housemate (who may live rent free). The E&D officer will also describe to the NDIA the ways in which an ILO that you have designed personally is of benefit to you.
Phase Two – ILO Supports
HOME have specifically recruited for the role of ILO Facilitator. As an NDIS Participant, our Facilitators can assist you to make your ILO vison come to life. Facilitators can help you find a home, housemates (including police checks and matching), paid staff and new natural supports. Facilitators stay with you along the journey, and are the main point of contact with other important people in your life. Facilitators make sure that the vision you made in stage one keeps on track, or changes as you do.
HOME now supports 15 different ILO arrangements across Victoria, including:
Living with one or two housemates, who offer community and companionship and supplement the support model. Under this model, we have seen a woman grow by disengaging formal supports as they became unnecessary to her. The companionship and support she received from her housemates empowered her to scale back formal supports.
Living alone, with formal supports managing basic in-home support needs, and oversight, companionship and community supported through a trusted neighbor. A man we support enjoys this model, because he has the privacy that he needs, but can also focus his outgoing nature into community connections beyond the home.
A co-residency model, where two people on the NDIS have a housemate who is not on the NDIS. In this context, they may have similar formal support needs, and share a similar formal support framework, however this is not a prerequisite of this model. For example, we currently support the ILO of two men who live under the same roof, but with their own housemate and who live unique and different lives. These men have chosen to share their lives in an ILO arrangement because of their shared values and interests – and not because of having a disability in common.
Living in a host-arrangement, where a host family or household provide support and companionship.
We now have limited availability to take new referrals for those who are funded with ILO Explore and Design in their NDIS plans. Please note, to work with us, you must have this funding in your NDIS plan, and we don’t do this work outside of the dedicated ILO funding streams.
How to get in touch:
If you think that an ILO with Milparinka might be right for you, please use this link to get in touch with us, or fill in the form below:
