Starts at Home Day Member Update: Spotlight on finding the perfect home for an autistic person
Tom Brown, Director of Living Plus, Places for People-Living Plus shares how they helped an autistic customer to find a suitable home that met their needs and gave them every opportunity to live a happy and independent life.
Living in your own space is something many of us take for granted. However, when you have complex needs, the ability to live independently can be a challenge for the person and their extended family.
The Acquisitions Team at Places for People supported an autistic customer to find a suitable home that met their needs and gave them every opportunity to live a happy and independent life.
A Colleague at Places for People said:
“The customer was 22 years old and has never lived away from the family home. However, like many of the families we help, his family were finding it difficult to meet his additional needs and felt that it was time for him to live independently and still receive quality support from a care provider.”
Holistic care and support
After completing an assessment, it was clear that the person needed 24-hour care. He enjoyed an active lifestyle, and exploring the outdoors, so this was taken into consideration when choosing a care provider that would help with his development.
With the care provider in place, it was time to find the perfect home. Like many autistic people, the person has an extremely close bond with their family, so the home had to be close to the family home if they ever needed their help or support. Secondly, it needed to have a decent size garden as they loved the outdoors and had lots of hobbies like compost making, which require ample outdoor space.
Transitioning to one’s own home
This story is an example of how we can make a difference to the lives of the people with complex needs and support them to have every opportunity to live an independent and fulfilling life by finding the perfect home.
The team were able to find a home that met all the needs of the person. It was a 7-minute walk from the family home and had the outdoor space that was so important to him. It also needed minimal renovations to bring it up to their specific needs.
Since moving in, the person has settled into their home well, so much so that they are leading a much more independent life than the family could imagine.
"It's his safe and happy place. He prefers his own space to the family home now, which is such great news! It's fantastic to hear he's living a much more independent life.”
This story is an example of how we can make a difference to the lives of the people with complex needs and support them to have every opportunity to live an independent and fulfilling life by finding the perfect home.
For more about Places for People and Living Plus specialist services, visit: https://www.placesforpeople.co.uk/investors-business/our-business/our-markets/specialist-landlord-services/
This blog has been published to coincide with Starts at Home Day 2024 (opens new window), celebrating the value of care and support services and the difference that having a safe and secure place to call home can make to people’s lives.