We Build the Homes We'd Want for Our Own Family
Necessity Housing is a family business. We registered as a Specialist Disability Accommodation provider under the NDIS in 2019 and opened in 2020.
Check our registration on the NDIS Commission's register (opens in a new tab)
How we began
Years of Groundwork Before We Opened the Doors
Necessity Housing was started by Scott Brennan and his family, from outside the disability sector. It began in 2017, when Scott's wife became interested in housing for people in crisis (people leaving prison, people escaping domestic violence), and that search led the family to the NDIS in 2018. They registered as an SDA provider in 2019 and opened in 2020, taking it slowly: “we wanted to figure this industry out properly before we asked anyone to live in one of our homes.”
Scott Brennan
General Manager
Necessity Housing was founded as part of a group of companies working in construction, property and finance. We turned that combined experience toward Specialist Disability Accommodation with one aim: to raise the standard of accessible living in Australia.
Before officially opening, we spent years studying the NDIS framework, developing designs and building a model around genuine participant outcomes. That groundwork is why our homes go beyond the SDA Design Standard.
Every design change we've made since has come from direct feedback: from participants, from carers, from support coordinators, and from the allied health professionals who see what actually works day to day.
How the design evolved
Three Generations of Design, Driven by One Problem
Participants with higher support needs kept struggling to share living spaces, even in well-designed Robust homes. Each iteration below was our answer to that.
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Our first designs
1, 2 and 3-Participant Robust Homes
Practical, safe and comfortable builds across Victoria for participants needing Robust support. Simple, but they taught us what mattered, and what didn't.
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Evolving through insight
Two Homes, Back-to-Back
Rather than keep refining shared living, we reimagined it: two homes built back-to-back under one title, each with its own kitchen, living area, bedroom and ensuite, and an onsite overnight assistance (OOA) room by the front entry, serving both.
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Where we are now
Two Homes, Side-by-Side
Equal space for each participant, each with their own entry, kitchen, living area and ensuite, plus an OOA room and a break-out room across the front, for 24/7 support.
Private Shared Simplified from our floor plans, not to scale.
The side-by-side layout is where we landed. Each participant gets equal space, privacy and independence (their own entry, kitchen, living area and ensuite), supported by an OOA room and a break-out room across the front, for round-the-clock support.
Most of the homes we list today (93 of 157) are High Physical Support, built for significant physical and medical support needs. A further 56 are Robust. The aim running through all of them is the one above: more privacy, and fewer shared spaces. What the design categories mean
Where we build
A Home, and a Life Around It
We research where quality SDA housing is needed, then look for the things that make a location liveable rather than just available.
See where we have homes- Hospitals and health services
- Allied health nearby
- Retail and shopping centres
- Public transport
- Employment opportunities
- Established community infrastructure
Supply has grown, but a lot of existing SDA still doesn't match what participants actually need, which is how unsuitable homes end up sitting vacant. We design around feedback and everyday liveability rather than compliance alone.
For example
1 Vacca Close, Wollert
- Health services
- The Northern Hospital (hospital) · about 14 minutes by car
- Public transport
- Montbeliard Road/Craigieburn Road (bus stop) · 750 m
- Shops
- IGA Wollert (convenience store) · 1.6 km
- Parks
- Park · 100 m
Where we operate
From Victoria to Every State and Territory We Can Serve Well
We've grown from a Victorian provider into a national one, with the same rule throughout: quality over quantity. We'd rather build fewer homes that suit someone than more that don't.
- homes listed today
- 157
- states and territories
- 6
- the year we opened
- 2020
- Victoria · 133 homes
- Queensland · 11 homes
- South Australia · 6 homes
- Northern Territory · 3 homes
- New South Wales · 2 homes
- Tasmania · 2 homes
Available homes vary by state and change regularly: the homes page shows what's current, and we'll tell you about anything not yet listed.
Come and See One
In person or by video walkthrough, with your OT or support coordinator if you'd like. We work to their schedule.