My housing and support plan

Instructions

As you work through the housing and support plan document, you will be asked to consider the following:

• What is important to you about your home (physical structure, location, size, etc.)?
• What kind of supports you need and how to best support you?
• What type of home you want to live in (apartment, house, condo, room and board, etc.)?
• Who you want to live with (alone, housemates, family)?
• What activities need to be present?
• What professional services need to be present to support you?

You will also be asked to:

• Complete a schedule of what you do throughout the day and what kind of assistance (if any) you need during those activities.
• Consider where technology may help you to build independence and lower your worker support costs.
• Think about your natural relationships (friends and family) and how they may help you to live as independently as possible through supports or financial assistance.
• Explore generic services in your community that may assist as well as MCCSS funding or funded services that you may have access to and how to best utilize these services and supports within your housing and support plan.
• Consider a budget for monthly living expenses and any initial costs you may have.
• Highlight any gaps that still exist after all resources are explored.

The instruction template that follows highlights some things to consider in each area of the form. You can work through this form on your own with the help of these instructions, or you can connect with your local DSO Housing Navigator for guidance or assistance.

My basic information

About me

All about me and my housing needs

This work sheet is the first step you need to take to create your housing and support plan. It will identify what people like and admire about you, what is important to you, and how needs can be supported. This is an opportunity to be creative and personalize this tool to make it a reflection of you.

Here’s some things to think about when answering the questions on the next page.

Question 1: What people like and admire about me?

1. The gifts I bring to the world.
2. The skills I have.
3. The strengths others appreciate in me.

Question 2: What is important to me about my home?

1. Location—community, neighbourhood, close to certain amenities?
2. With whom—roommates, alone, family, friends?
3. Type of home—house, condo, apartment, rent or own?
4. What to avoid in a home—stairs, loud neighbourhood?
5. Important layout—accessibility, large bathroom?

Question 3: How to best support me in my home?

1. How much and what kind of support will I need to live my most independent life?
2. What do my support people need to know and do to help me stay healthy and safe?
3. What do my support people need to know and do to value me?
4. What do my support people need to know and do to to make sure that what is important to me is not overlooked or forgotten?

My home evaluation

Describe what is working and what is not working for you in your current home environment.

My evaluation of the home:

My family’s evaluation of the home:

My support person’s evaluation of the home:

Action Plan

My housing vision

Instructions

A housing vision describes a person’s hopes and dreams for where, and with whom they wish to live; as well as other important factors to consider when choosing a place to live. Your vision usually answers the questions Who? What? Where? When? and How?

Creating a vision is a key step in creating your housing and support plan. Building on the information from the About me section and My home evaluation tools in your vision, you will further explore your housing dreams, wants and needs. We suggest that you start with dreaming big and not worrying about making it realistic. Approach this as an opportunity to discover what is most important to you, by looking at what your ideal housing dream would look like. Later in the planning process, you will focus more on what is achievable.

For example, you may vision a house with a pool, which may not be available. Upon further exploration, you might recognize that what is most important is being able to swim every day. So, perhaps you might look for a place that is close to a community centre that has a pool.

My housing model

My relationship circle

Instructions

By completing your relationship circle, you will examine who is already in your life, that can help support your housing and support vision.

Relationships are important to all of us. We all have different people in our lives, who play a variety of roles and provide us with unique things. For example, we might have friends who like music and who we connect with to attend concerts with us. We might have friends who like sports, who we invite to go to the local pub and watch a game. Or, we may have friends who know a lot about something we want to learn more about; for example, cooking. We may get together to make food, enjoying each other’s company while learning a new skill and enjoying the delicious meals we create together.

This can help you identify who you have in your life and how they are connected to you (e.g. family members, friends, paid supports, etc.). It can help you determine areas where you may wish to build new connections (e.g. make new friends and acquaintances, or increase community supports). The relationship circle can assist you to highlight people you may wish to invite to participate in the process of creating a housing and support plan; as well as those who may be able to play a role in your support.

When completing your relationship circle, you are in the black circle in the center and those who you have a close relationship with would be placed in the blue ring. People who you are not as close with, would be placed in the green ring. You can use the whole page, placing those you are not as closely attached to around the outside of the circles.

My housing and supports needs

Instructions

By completing the following tools: My support needs, My support costs, My housing expenses and My financial resources for my housing and living costs, you will be able to document the activities you participate in on a daily and/or weekly basis, and where you benefit from support in order to complete these activities successfully. You will also be able to indicate where this support will come from (e.g. support from family and friends: unpaid support; support from paid workers, and/or technology) and the costs that may be related to that support (e.g. the number of paid support hours and what that will cost for the month). You will also document the costs related to housing expenses and the resources you have, to help you cover these expenses.

If you have already completed the My housing and support needs and housing Excel budget worksheet, it will make the calculations for you and you can copy and paste the information into the pages below.

My support needs

My morning schedule:

My afternoon schedule:

My evening schedule:

Overnight support:

Use this section for activities that do not happen every day (only complete this if these activities have not been recorded above).

Weekly support schedule:

My support costs

My financial resources for support costs

My housing expenses

My monthly housing and living costs

My financial resources for my housing and living costs

One time housing costs

My financial summary

My next steps

As you review each step in the toolkit, you may find a need or a desire to go back and change your housing vision. This housing and support plan can be filled out more than once, changed a little or changed a lot depending on your needs.

Reflecting on your housing and support plan, what next steps are needed to move this forward (include time frames).

References

Person-centred Thinking Tools: Hsa: Consultancy: Training
http://helensandersonassociates.co.uk/person-centred-practice/person-centred-thinking-tools

Special thanks to Helen Sanderson Associates.