Domestic Violence Coordinated Entry, also called Domestic Violence Coordinated Housing Access Point (DVCHAP), is undergoing big, critical changes this year!
The Domestic Violence Coordinated Housing Access Point (DVCHAP) is the primary way for survivors to access transitional housing and rapid rehousing in King County. It has been moving towards a much anticipated database transition in collaboration with King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) and BitFocus, the database vendor.
Leading up to these changes, DV Housing Systems Manager Hannah Whitworth has led a workgroup of providers to guide the process.
- The DVCHAP workgroup sourced an internal assessment development team comprised of advocates and managers from both referring agencies and housing agencies in DVCHAP. They are finishing the first draft of the one, new assessment this week, sunsetting the multiple types of assessments currently in use.
- Next, they will be reviewing this new assessment with the full DVCHAP workgroup and an external review panel. This external review panel includes persons with lived experience and folks with experience supporting survivors in navigating the gender-based violence housing systems.
- Happening concurrently, a working group of staff from CEGV, KCRHA, and Bitfocus are working on policies and legal agreements between the three entities to ensure that survivors will maintain autonomy over their information and that this information, albeit deidentified, will be secure.
What are the main differences in the old and new systems?
In addition to utilizing a new assessment, this new database has greater capabilities than the current system: streamlining communication that allows for improved transparency, including results of and feedback from prioritization.
At the transition point, all DVCHAP agencies, including the programs submitting assessments and those with housing resources, will gain access to their individual program’s portal, where the assessments will be stored and edited until ready to be submitted.
Each submission will require the completion of the eligibility form, to improve transparency and immediate feedback if a household is not eligible for that program, along with the assessment. These forms will ‘talk’ to each other to reduce the number of questions asked between both forms.
Throughout this process and transition we will continue to center through our guiding principles:
- Maintaining a survivor-centered process, reduce the burden placed on survivors who are often reaching out to multiple providers seeking housing
- Creating a low-barrier, transparent path to housing options that demonstrates a clear commitment to increasing racial equity and addressing disproportionality
- Providing clear and consistent messaging to survivors, providers, and larger community about structure, purpose, benefits and limitations of the system
Stay tuned for more news about the launch and rollout of this new system, which will come with training for all involved gender-based violence organizations in King County that currently refer to DV Housing program OR are themselves DV housing providers.
Contact Hannah Whitworth for any questions!