Homeless supplement for aged care services 065-13040030

The homeless supplement aims to better support residential aged care services that specialise in caring for care recipients with a history of, or who are at risk of homelessness at the time of entry into care.

From 1 October 2022 the homeless supplement:

• is known as the specialised homeless base care tariff (BCT)
• ceased as an individual supplement due to the implementation of the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) model
• is paid as part of the residential aged care service's AN-ACC fixed funding component

Home Care providers are not eligible to receive a homeless supplement.

To view the homeless supplement in the Aged Care Staff Portal, see Table 8 in the Aged Care Staff Portal (ACSP) - Service in Context.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing determines the residential aged care service's eligibility for the specialised homeless base care tariff (BCT).

Post 1 October 2022 eligibility

Approved providers must apply to Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to have their residential care service recognised as having Specialised Homeless status. If approved, they will receive the relevant specialised BCT rate of those services.

For Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to determine if a residential care service has specialised status, the approved provider should provide evidence that they meet the relevant eligibility criteria:

• The approved provider demonstrated experience in providing, or the capacity to provide, specialist homeless programs
• The residential care service is providing such specialist programs, or
• The approved provider gives an undertaking to begin providing the specialist programs within 3 months of the application being made, and
• On the day before the application was made, at least 50% of the care recipients (including continuing care recipients) provided with permanent residential care have demonstrated complex behavioural needs and social disadvantage associated with their background as a homeless person

Approved providers can apply for specialised status at any time, but approval is only granted if all eligibility criteria are met.

The AN-ACC specialised classification lasts up to 3 years, during which the provider must meet all eligibility requirements. It takes effect at the start of the next payment period after approval. For example, an application lodged 15 February can only start from 1 March.

When a care recipient begins care, the service must submit the 'Specialised Homeless Status - Care Recipient Assessment Form' to Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for assessment. If approved, the service will update the entry record to include the homelessness indicator.

Pre-1 October 2022 eligibility

To be eligible for the homeless supplement the residential aged care service needed to meet all of the following criteria:

• Be registered with Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for the expansion component of the viability supplement
• Have more than half of all residents meeting the viability expansion component and homeless supplement assessment criteria
• Send a completed Viability expansion component and homeless supplement assessment form (AC024) to Services Australia

For information about the decommissioned AC024, see the Resources page.

The System for the Payment of Aged Residential Care (SPARC) is the legacy aged care payment system for residential care. SPARC was a view only system from 11 August 2022 and decommissioned in 2023.

To view the legacy SPARC process, see the Resources page.