STA or MTA: Which Short Term Option Applies?

One question tells you which one you are asking for

Is there a home to go back to? If yes, and the stay is a break from it, you are talking about Short Term Accommodation. If no, and there is a confirmed long-term home that is not ready yet, you are talking about Medium Term Accommodation. Almost every argument with a planner about these two comes back to that question being answered vaguely.

They sound like the same product at different lengths. They are not. They exist for opposite situations, they are evidenced differently, and one of them covers your support and food while the other covers a roof and nothing else.

Short Term Accommodation, in practice

STA is what most families still call respite. It funds a stay away from home, and it is a bundled support: the accommodation, the assistance during the stay, meals, and the activities that happen while somebody is there all sit inside it. That bundling is the thing to hold on to, because it means you are not separately arranging support hours for those days.

It exists for two overlapping reasons. Somebody who usually provides care is unavailable, unwell or needs a break, or the participant themselves benefits from time away, a change of environment, and a few days of living with different people. Both are legitimate. Neither requires a crisis.

STA is funded from the Core supports part of a plan, and the NDIA generally frames it in terms of a set number of days across a plan year rather than an open-ended amount, usually taken in short blocks rather than one long stay. The exact allocation is a plan-level decision, so check what your own plan says rather than what somebody else's did. We covered the detail in what STA actually covers.

Medium Term Accommodation, in practice

MTA is a bridge. It funds somewhere to live while a person waits for a home that has already been confirmed, and the confirmation is the whole basis of it. Someone is discharged from hospital and their house needs modifications before they can safely return. An SDA apartment is being built and the completion date is months away. A SIL vacancy has been offered with a start date that is not yet.

The NDIA looks for evidence that the long-term housing genuinely exists: a signed agreement, a build contract, a confirmed vacancy with a date, a modification quote and schedule. Without that, an MTA request usually reads as "nowhere to live at the moment", which is a housing problem the NDIS does not solve and will not fund its way around.

The critical difference in what you get: MTA funds the accommodation only. Your support is funded separately from the rest of your plan and delivered into wherever you are staying, and your food and everyday costs are yours as they would be anywhere. Families who assume MTA works like STA are surprised by that in the first week.

It is also longer. MTA is measured in weeks and months rather than days, commonly framed around a period of up to 90 days, and it can be extended where the delay is genuine and documented. Hospital discharge is the most common route into it, and the sequence there is set out in going from hospital to home with an NDIS plan.

Side by side

• Why it exists. STA: a break from a home you still have. MTA: a gap before a home you do not have yet.
• What it covers. STA: accommodation, support, meals and activities bundled together. MTA: the accommodation cost only.
• How long. STA: days at a time, across a plan year. MTA: weeks to months, commonly up to around 90 days.
• The evidence that matters. STA: why a break is needed and what the participant gets out of it. MTA: proof that confirmed long-term housing exists and is not yet available.
• Where the support comes from. STA: inside the STA support itself. MTA: from your ordinary support funding, delivered where you are staying.

The situations where people get it wrong

Using STA as a holding pattern. When a housing situation breaks down and there is nowhere to go, families sometimes book rolling STA. It is the wrong tool, it exhausts a limited allocation quickly, and it does not build toward anything. If the long-term home is confirmed, MTA is the correct request. If it is not, the work is confirming it, and a support coordinator earns their keep at exactly this point.

Assuming MTA includes support. It does not. Ask early who is delivering support during the MTA period and from which budget, and get it in writing before the move rather than during it.

Waiting until the discharge date. Hospital social workers and the NDIA both need lead time, and an MTA request assembled the week somebody is being discharged is an MTA request under pressure. Start it when the modification quote or the build timeline first appears, not when the bed is needed.

Treating either as a permanent answer. Both are temporary by design. If the underlying situation is that the current home no longer works, the real conversation is about long-term housing, and short term funding is a way to buy time for it rather than a substitute. Our overview of the housing options is the place to start that.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between STA and MTA?

STA funds a short stay away from a home you still have, bundling accommodation, support, meals and activities together, and is usually taken in blocks of days. MTA funds accommodation only while you wait for confirmed long-term housing that is not yet available, runs for weeks or months, and leaves your support funded from the rest of your plan.

How long can you stay in Medium Term Accommodation?

MTA is commonly framed around a period of up to 90 days, and it can be extended where the delay in the long-term housing is genuine and evidenced. The length depends on why the wait exists, so a build timeline or a modification schedule is what supports a longer period rather than a general request for more time.

Does MTA include support workers?

No. Medium Term Accommodation covers the cost of the accommodation itself. Any support you need during that period is funded from your usual support budget and delivered into the place you are staying. Confirm who is providing that support, and from which budget, in writing before the stay begins.

Can I use STA while I wait for a SIL home?

It is not what STA is for, and rolling STA bookings use up a limited annual allocation without moving the housing forward. Where a SIL vacancy is confirmed with a start date, MTA is usually the correct request. Where nothing is confirmed yet, the priority is securing that confirmation, ideally with a support coordinator involved.