Each room that is open represents a person who hasn't yet found a home, and a household of yours whose costs remain the same, but which is running on three-quarters of its income.

Here are three quick tips to reduce the wait consistently. No budget necessary and you can make all three this week!

We'll review them all, and then offer to take one of your vacancies off your hands, for free.

The Vacancy And The Person Waiting Are The Same Problem

Someone in a hospital bed who has been medically ready to leave for months. Someone who's living with older parents who are secretly worried about the future. A person in a placement that is not working, waiting for something better.

Viewed from your side it's a line on a vacancy report. From their point of view it's a year of their life.

The Commercial Reality Is Real, And Worth Naming Honestly

You don't save that much if you have an empty room in a house shared with others. The night shift is still in operation. The day roster hardly changes. Rent, utilities, vehicle, insurance, house manager's time, nothing has changed. What disappears is a quarter of the revenue from a house whose costs stayed where they were.

That would typically be in the $3,000 to $4,000 weekly range for a 4 bedroom house with 24/7 service, against possibly a couple of hundred dollars of actual cost savings. Placements usually take three to six months from first referral to move-in. The numbers don't add up very easily, especially as support worker rates have increased by about 4.8% under this year's pricing system.

We mention this not to scare you, you already know it, but because it matters for a reason other than just money.

When the vacancy pressure is sustained, decisions change in a provider. Fill rates get watched more closely than fit. When that's the case, placements occur that shouldn't, and it's worse for everyone, the participant most of all.

⚖️  Sustainable occupancy is what allows you to be selective. Being selective is what makes placements last. The two things people treat as opposites are actually the same thing.

What Actually Shortens The Wait

Here are three things that are common among providers whose rooms fill well.

1. They're readily available.  A housing transition coordinator typically will reach out to multiple providers at once. The ones who respond the same day with actual information, such as availability, the home, and who to call, end up in the conversation. It's rarely about being the best provider. It's about being available when someone needed an answer.

If one thing needs to be changed it's to designate a single person who is responsible for handling referral enquiries and has a swift response to people, regardless of the answer (nothing right now, but there's a room opening in October, shall I hold your details?). A fast “no” is really helpful for a coordinator. Silence isn't.

2. They have up-to-date vacancy information.  A listing with a date on it tells a coordinator the list is being maintained. An out of date listing costs them a wasted phone call and a bad conversation with a family too, and they remember. Putting a last updated date on the page takes 10 seconds and is more beneficial to your credibility than a redesign.

3. They describe the household, not the house.  Coordinators are not matching someone to a building. They need to understand who is already living there (general support profile, age range, whether the home is quiet, with routines, or busy, social, etc), and the rhythm of the week.

Many providers hold this back out of privacy concerns, and it's perfectly reasonable. However, there is a huge difference between breaking a resident's privacy and talking about a household in general terms with everyone's consent. The providers who have figured out how to write it make it into the mix a lot more often, because they're the only ones providing coordinators with what they actually need to make a decision.

None of these three require a marketing budget. They need someone who owns them.

The Part That's Genuinely Hard

The above is the mechanical side, and it can be fixed in a week.

The difficulty comes in locating not just the right person in the right postcode, but the right person who will complement the existing residents in that home, whose daily routine, sensory needs and communication style fit theirs. That involves talking with the participants, families and coordinators, and it takes time that most providers do not have.

That's what we do.

Where We Come In

We are spending our days talking to people who are searching for supported living and we know what it's like on the other side, a coordinator with a participant who needs a home, and is calling around.

We would like to make an introduction, for free!

One free matched referral, no strings attached

📩  Tell us about a room you have open and what the household is like. We'll match a participant who really fits and make the introduction. No contract, no payment information and no obligation afterwards. We do not want to tell you about us, we want to show you. If it's useful, we'll talk about doing more. If not, you've helped someone find a home and that's a reasonable outcome too.

Tell us about your vacancy

→  Or email Michelle at michelle@supportnetwork.com.au

Download the kit

→  supportnetwork.com.au