The current pay structure for host homes is backwards!

 I have been a host home provider since 2016. It’s kind of like the Peace Corp in that it’s the toughest job you’ll ever love.  It’s a 24/7 plate spinning, schedule juggling with little downtime endeavor.

I get to help vulnerable individuals lead their best lives and it is fun to watch!

I want to let you know some of my frustrations as a host home provider. I feel like I am being punished for being good. I believe the state is operating under the wrong paradigm.

 

As it stands, host home providers get paid more when their clients have significant behaviors and when those behaviors decrease so does compensation to the provider.  It needs to be the other way around.

 

Because of my skill, my education, and my compassionate nature I have helped clients with significant behaviors lead calmer, more productive and fun lives. They’ve become able to focus on building skills and self-esteem rather than losing placements, jobs, and freedoms because of behaviors.

 

They come to me at higher tiers levels, and I put in the work for those higher tier levels but as they start to succeed and have less behaviors their tier level is dropped.  I still need to give support at that higher level yet be compensated less.

 

It’s possible, in some cases, that host home providers with less skill, less motivation and less education keep getting higher compensation because their clients continue to exhibit significant behaviors.

 

There needs to be a new paradigm. If you have a client that has significant behaviors and they start doing well in a host home, you need to compensate that provider at a higher rate to help maintain that client in a good situation and weed out the less skilled providers or motivate them to get better.