Finding a Home for Erin

When Erin was first referred to Affinity Trust, she lived at home with her mum and brother and needed to move to a supported living setting for greater independence, so her Mum made a housing application for her. Erin was also spending a lot of time at a day centre but that wasn’t meeting her needs.

Working with her family, we agreed on an area to look for a suitable property. Staff from Affinity Trust did shadow shifts to get to know Erin and how to support her to meet her needs. Erin had two to one support during the day.

She viewed a number of properties over a year, including five in the street she now lives, before the perfect one came up. A two-bedroom bungalow, it is set back from the road and is really private and quiet, but still only a few minutes from town centre facilities.

The property was bought by Places for People who then made it ready for Erin to move in, in March 2023. Her mum stayed the first couple of nights to help her settle in alongside staff supporting during the day. This meant her Mum could provide reassurance, but the support relationship and trust could develop. But in no time Erin was making it her home, and she was fully supported by staff.  

Before finding her new home, Erin had struggled in crowded places, communicated in ways other than words and needed to check her list of things to do many times each day. She could go to the shop for an item or two but struggled with the shopping environment due to noise, people and sensory overload so shopping trips were short.

Now, Erin is thriving. Her vocabulary has increased, and she often surprises her support workers with the things she asks for. She can go to the supermarket for all the household items she needs, and although she always makes a list of things she wants to do each week, she rarely asks for it.

She loves her garden and enjoys sitting out in it, and she also has a sensory room made for her in an outbuilding where she can relax and listen to music.

She has an active life, enjoying activities like swimming and walks in the park, and has even started attending a disco for people who need support to understand social events (people with autism may struggle with social cues and communicating). This is something her wider support team of professionals thought she would not be able to do.

Having a home of her own has changed Erin’s life so much for the good that she has even been able to reduce the level of support she needs. She has a few hours a day of two to one support, so that she can go out and do the activities she enjoys (or go and get that shopping list!), but otherwise her support is one to one.

Finding the right home for Erin hasn’t just changed her life, it’s changed her whole family’s lives -Mum, Dad and younger brother. They have the peace of mind that she is getting the right support in the right place and she is living her life the way she wants to.