Housing Instability and Continuity of Daily Support

Protect routines, information and worker access during house moves.

Temporary housing or sudden relocation can interrupt personal support, medication routines, appointments and community connection.

Services could cease at the time when the individual's needs are increasing. In temporary accommodation, workers may not be aware of the conditions for access, travel time, or responsibility.

Why this matters for social workers

When arranging things, social workers add context to arrangements that might otherwise be task-focused. The challenge is to move from the understanding into action without compromising privacy, dignity and self-determination. Helpful coordination ties the individual's account to current preferences, barriers, and supports; clarifies the next responsibility, but does not make one professional the “owner” of all problems.

What better coordination looks like

A continuity plan sets out the supports, information and permissions that need to travel with the person through the day, not stay behind.

Prioritise the next 72 hours

Verify safe shelter, personal assistance, access to medications, food, communication and emergency contacts.

Rebuild the service map

Notify the relevant providers with consent, and establish both where they can operate and any gaps.

Preserve the person's routines

Ensure that communication, cultural, sensory and daily preferences are carried forward and that relocation does not erase person-centred practice.

Make the change last

A useful change is a specific change that can be practised and a small change that can be reviewed. Decide on who will take the first step, where the decision will be documented, and when the person will be asked if they were helped. Where a services approach is required, verify each party's readiness to provide their portion of the services rather than take it for granted that they have agreed at the meeting. Keep what works, change what doesn't and eliminate temporary solutions that are not achieving the desired result.

Questions for the next review

What would “prioritise the next 72 hours” look like from the person's point of view?

What is being assumed or what is still a request?

What will the person or team see that will help them determine if this is helping?

Keep the boundary clear

Qualified services should be providing housing and tenancy advice. Social workers and support workers should not go into unsafe environments and make informal arrangements outside policy and consent.

A practical example

A one-page continuity brief was put in place when a participant moved to a motel at the end of a tenancy, and was given to a replacement worker to assist with the morning routine until housing advocacy and longer-term arrangements were in place.