Perspectives
18 December 2025
Since 2017, Macquarie Asset Management has been helping grow the supply of high-quality accommodation for people living with disability, including through Australia’s leading private Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) platform.1
In the nine years since the SDA program was introduced by the federal government, over 25,000 Australians have been assessed as being eligible for housing designed for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs.2
Despite a marked increase in supply over the same period, there remains a significant shortage in contemporary purpose-built or modified homes, meaning many of those eligible continue to inhabit older properties with sub-standard features for their needs.
Almost 14,000 suitable new-build places have been created,3 but a further 11,600 SDA participants occupy dwellings that are considered no longer fit for purpose and need to be replaced or modernised in coming years.4
Furthermore, government estimates indicate 28,000 people or more ultimately require SDA,5 meaning at least 14,000 new or upgraded properties are needed if the program is to deliver its promise of independence and choice for Australians with very high support needs.
The SDA program was designed to establish a private sector-led market to build and manage the provision of new high-quality, bespoke homes for people with disabilities, and is not underpinned by publicly built or owned accommodation. To attract private capital, the previous ‘block-funding’ model was replaced with direct payments to providers where a participant chooses to live in a property they manage. This encourages SDA providers to deliver high-quality, well-located accommodation that people choose to live in.
Esplanade complex located in the Hills District in Greater Sydney.
Since 2017, Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has been helping grow the supply of suitable accommodation through access to private capital, which has funded the delivery of hundreds of well-located, well-designed properties that enable people with profound disabilities to live in a way that meets their needs.
MAM scaled up its approach in 2021, working with domestic and global real estate investors to provide an institutional pooled capital solution for the SDA sector, subsequently funding the formation of Enliven Housing Group (Enliven) in 2024. Enliven facilitates financing, property development, tenant engagement, onboarding and property management into a single integrated platform that comprises 727 dwellings across all five mainland states in Australia.6 It has sector-leading occupancy rates for established developments that it directly manages.7
SDA sits at the intersection of two powerful forces: government-backed revenue and the highly sought-after Australian housing market, says James Kemp, Senior Managing Director and Head of Real Estate, Asia-Pacific, at Macquarie Asset Management. This can make it a compelling proposition for institutional real estate investors.
Such investors are increasingly seeking exposure to the “living” sectors of real estate – rental housing, and student and retirement accommodation – after decades of focusing on office, retail and industrial.
“Globally, living is one of the more attractive asset classes in real estate right now,” says Kemp. “But the Australian living sector is still under-allocated by institutional investors.”
SDA offers an exposure to the sector.
“It delivers a rare government-backed income stream that provide stable, above-average yields – in an underlying asset linked to Australian residential pricing. Furthermore, it is having a real positive impact on people’s lives,” says Kemp.
Costing less than it does to house people in hospitals or institutional care facilities, SDA economics are favourable for public expenditure.8 In the 12 months to March 2025, $A411 million was paid out in funding, ~58 per cent of the initial estimate of $A700 million per year.9
Apartment in the Esplanade complex include height-adjustable kitchen benches and bathroom sinks.
SDA funding is restricted to those who meet strict eligibility criteria and have extreme functional impairment or the highest support needs, making it one of the most regulated and targeted programs within the NDIS.
Kemp says current market conditions are particularly favourable for SDA, with developers that have bought or optioned land needing pre-sales to secure finance and start construction. That allows Enliven to step in as a bulk buyer, negotiate better pricing and make the modifications needed to be inclusive and enabling for people with profound disabilities.
Enliven’s integrated model goes beyond developing homes and collecting rent, says Faye Minty, CEO at Enliven Housing Property Management.
“When Enliven was formed, MAM recognised that we were unique in this space. Our approach has always been different – at the heart is secure tenancy rights and genuine choice for people with disability.”
That principle underpins day to day operations.
Enliven typically delivers clusters of apartments in new developments: ten homes plus one unit for an on-site support provider. Through a governance framework called the ‘Choice Collective’, tenants can come together and combine their resources to pay for shared support.
This approach empowers them as consumers to insist upon high-quality housing provision and support arrangements, and to leverage economies of scale. Choice Collectives meet regularly to review how supports are working and decide whether to keep or change providers, and they can explore collective purchasing of utilities and living expenses.
“If a group of tenants is not happy with a service provider, that they can collectively make a decision to go out and explore the market for others,” says Minty.
“That is a level of control and autonomy that hasn’t existed previously.”
Apartments in the Esplanade complex are fully wheelchair accessible with automated front doors and lighting systems, ensuring that residents of all abilities feel at home.
Enliven invests directly in making the model work, employing facilitators to help tenants work together, articulate and document their agreements.
Its active landlord model also means tenants deal directly with a tenancy manager, not a call centre. Repairs and issues are tracked and communicated back to tenants, ensuring accountability.
The demand for SDA investment is clear: tens of thousands of Australians are eligible, yet fewer than half that number of new or suitable homes are available today.
Meeting that need requires scale and capital.
MAM and Enliven’s stewardship is demonstrating what works: a vertically integrated model that combines capital, development and management that delivers both social impact and attractive returns.
For tenants, Enliven’s dwellings can mean independence, dignity and security.
For real estate investors, it can mean exposure to tangible Australian residential real estate with an embedded development and management platform, whilst delivering social impact outcomes with the benefit of stable, government-backed rental income.
Imagery provided by Enliven Housing Group
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