Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) Framework
This summarises the values and principles that underpin the DAHA framework and the 8 priority areas. The framework helps staff approach clients with a domestic abuse lens and helping identify domestic abuse early and provide early interventions. These principles, values and the priority area standards need to be embedded throughout the housing service.
The values and principles should be reflective in policy, procedures, training, and practice. Within policies that directly impact victims, survivors, or perpetrators, should be explicitly stating commitment to these values and principles.
The values:
Integrity: City Of York Council (CYC) should be completing accreditation because it is the right thing to do for residents and staff. Ensuring within decision making and support the attitude is to hold perpetrators to account and to increase victim safety and housing security.
Collaboration: Internal and external collaboration must be the head of the services response to domestic abuse. Ensuring there are relationships with by and for specialised DA services and recognised for their independence. Ensuring there is good working relationships with all partner agencies and can demonstrate good protocols and procedures with these partners. Ensuring victims/survivors are heard and taken into consideration on what they need to have housing safety. It would be meaningful to have victim/survivor participation in development, delivery and evaluation of the services.
Empathy: This should be present in any/every decision making that may impact victims/survivor. It is crucial to have a person-centred approach, and the procedures are flexible to allow support to that individual’s needs. Ensuring not to re traumatise victims going over the same information. Being able to understand the barriers they may face with disclosing and being able to support through this. Ensuring support/training regularly is offered to staff to do this.
Empowerment: Ensuring victims/survivors feel empowered to disclose, but also that they can make their own choices in respect to their housing safety and that collaborative support to resolve their housing issues and not things done to them. Also, that victims/survivors feel empowered to help influence how services are provided to further support victims/survivors.
Respect: Should have a culture of respect both internally and externally so people can openly express their needs. This is imperative to ensure there is a non-judgemental need led approach. This includes respect within case notes, referral language and decisions on how to support victims.
Accountability:Ensuring CYC are accountable and have humility towards gaps in knowledge and services. Ensuring staff are transparent with gaps and mistakes and can demonstrate changes to prevent any future harm. Accountability on holding perpetrators to account and have the attitude that it is not victims’ responsibility to engage with services.
The principles:
Non-Judgemental & Belief: Should be creating an environment to enable victims to disclose knowing they will be heard, non-judged and believed. Staff and the organisation need to create this environment.
Being person centred: Ensuring the work staff do is tailored and meets the individuals needs and not just a blanket response, ensuring staff have the knowledge skills, confidence, and support to provide this.
Amplifying victim/survivor voice: Ensuring CYC seek, value, and incorporate feedback from diverse victims including staff and residents to help improve policies and practices. Ensuring minority communities and those that have lacked engagement with services.
Victim/survivor safety: Creating communities in which perps are held accountable for their behaviour. Also speaking with victim/survivor on what they need and want to happen.
Working towards a coordinated community response (CCR): Considering the organisations response and how they work collaboratively in partnership with others and communities, how they promote and contribute to an effective coordinated response and hold perps accountable.
Below are the basics of the priority areas and standards in which housing must demonstrate they meet to achieve the DAHA accreditation.
Priority Area 1: Policies & Procedures
Standard 1: A resident/tenant DA policy is in place and embedded in practice
Standard 2: A staff DA policy in place
Standard 3: Procedures for responding to DA are in place and embedded in practice. The accreditation will only review the housing policies.
Priority Area 2: Staff Development & Support
Standard 1: All staff are aware of DA and the impact on families.
Standard 2: Relevant staff receive DA training from specialists.
Standard 3: Continued staff learning & development.
Standard 4: DA champions including champions for staff in place
Standard 5: Staff wellbeing
Standard 6: Staff DA policy
Standard 7: Response to staff disclosures
Priority Area 3: Partnerships & Collaboration
Standard 1: Shared governance and leadership
Standard 2: Information sharing
Standard 3: Participation in safeguarding & multi agency information forums – I.e. MARAC
Standard 4: Referral pathways and relationships
Standard 5: Support for specialist DA services by and for
Priority Area 4: Safety-led case management
Standard 1: A CMS that supports safe practice
Standard 2: Non-judgemental and believing language
Standard 3: Risk identification and safeguarding
Standard 4: Recording information
Standard 5: Case supervision
Standard 6: Data collection, monitoring and evaluation
Priority Area 5: Victim/survivor led support
Standard 1: Creating physical and emotional safety within the home
Standard 2: Creating physical safety with professionals or services
Standard 3: Creating emotional safety, trust and boundaries with professionals
Standard 4: Enabling autonomy and choice through a needs based approach
Standard 5: Collaboration, participation, and empowerment
Priority Area 6: Intersectional & Anti racist practice
Standard 1: Embedding intersectional and anti-racist practice through values, principles and policies
Standard 2: Creating awareness and understanding through staff training, development and support
Standard 3: Understanding intersection needs of residents/tenants through data collection and effective case management
Standard 4: Providing victim led support which considers the intersectional needs of victims
Standard 5: Publicity and awareness raising.
Standard 6: Removing systemic barriers
Standard 7: Identifying and understanding all forms of VAWG/VAWDASV (violence against women/girls)
Standard 8: Understanding the needs of local communities
Standard 9: Supporting by and for services
Priority Area 7: Perpetrator accountability
Standard 1: Values and principles reflect perp accountability
Standard 2: Identifying perps of abuse, recording and sharing relevant perp information
Standard 3: Enforcement action
Standard 4: Positive engagement
Standard 5: Perp response does no harm to victims
Priority Area 8: Publicity & Awareness raising
Standard 1: Publicising DA response to tenants/residents
Standard 2: Targeting communication to reach everyone
Standard 3: Awareness raising: hosting, organising and supporting events and campaigns