Systems and methods are provided for monitoring a connection state between a primary DHCP server and a secondary DHCP server, determining that a connection between the primary DHCP server and the secondary DHCP server has not been established within a first timeframe, establishing a partner-down operation state at one or more of the primary DHCP server and secondary DHCP server, and, during an established partner-down operation state, issuing/allocating short-term network address leases from one of the primary DHCP servers or secondary DHCP servers. Short-term network leases of the present disclosure may have a duration of between 1 second and 5 minutes.