KayVin Hill currently works as a Homeless Services Program Specialist at the Thurston County Office of Housing and Homeless Prevention in Washington state. The community, which encompasses the state capital of Olympia, recently achieved the quality data milestone for all single adults experiencing homelessness.
Hill previously served as the county’s Built for Zero Program Coordinator, where they focused on initiatives aimed at reducing homelessness in their community, as they work toward reaching functional zero for chronic and veteran homelessness.
Hill’s commitment to ending homelessness stems from both personal and professional experiences. Though their original goal was to become a social worker, systemic barriers led them to work in corporate environments before ultimately moving into the homeless response sector. Their belief in a more human-centered approach to data and policy fueled their involvement in Built for Zero and, later, their leadership in Thurston County’s homeless response efforts.
Read on to learn more about Hill’s work in supporting emerging leaders in the homeless response system, the impact of the Lived Experience Housing Steering Committee, and the power of community partnerships in driving meaningful change.
Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
What partnerships or collaborations have been most impactful in your community’s approach to ending homelessness?
It might sound simple, but improving community relationships and building rapport with the Department of Commerce has been incredibly impactful in our approach to ending homelessness. A key element of our success is the understanding shared by members of our Homeless Crisis Response System about how systems work at all levels. In Washington state, the Department of Commerce has made significant efforts to both educate and offer valuable training opportunities. These efforts have directly influenced the quality of service we can provide, as well as the data we’re able to collect and analyze from those services.
What can organizations and individuals do to be better allies and support Black leadership in this work?
At this point, it would be impossible to ignore the blatant attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). I think it’s crucial to not just focus on the initials — DEI — but to truly understand what those words mean. For many workplaces, DEI often stops at “diversity.” There’s a tendency to point out diverse backgrounds and cultures as if that’s enough — “Look at all the different people we have!” But the reality is, when a member of a marginalized group raises an equity issue, they’re often labeled as divisive, aggressive, or even “seeking special accommodation.”
What we need isn’t just for people to experience the same standard of living. We need them to feel that their entire person is welcome — that they can take up space with their unique needs, cultural beliefs, and struggles. It’s about feeling included, not just tolerated.
People need to understand that Blackness isn’t something we can turn on and off. While many may code-switch to protect themselves, we are Black all the time, and the world constantly reminds us of that, whether or not anyone acknowledges it.
How is your community working to make your homeless response system more racially equitable?
Our state collects racial equity outcomes for all programs receiving Consolidated Homeless Grant and other specific funds. Thanks to improved data quality standards in our community, we can now use statewide racial outcome percentages to compare with our community’s unique demographics. This allows us to track progress and make improvements in racial equity outcomes.
As a result, we’ve been able to set specific targets for marginalized populations that are underrepresented in positive outcomes but overrepresented in service utilization. This data-driven approach helps us focus on closing those gaps and ensuring more equitable access to resources.
“To truly embed racial equity, it’s crucial that we maintain ongoing training opportunities and actively nurture inclusivity within our system.”
— KayVin Hill
Can you share any innovative strategies or best practices your organization has implemented to address systemic barriers to racial equity?
Again, it may seem simple, but one of the key improvements we’ve made is to revise the forms we use in our community, especially for intake processes. We’ve also incorporated education around ongoing motivational interviewing, since many of these forms ask about race, ethnicity, sex, and gender — questions that, to be blunt, can be more difficult for white providers to ask racially diverse individuals. We have found these questions were often left blank or incorrect when audited, which created gaps in our data.
Additionally, we’ve made strides by focusing on a coordinated systems approach, standardizing many of our forms to use shared language. This has been especially helpful for referrals between agencies, as many service gaps are filled by different organizations.
For me, this is crucial because we received feedback from individuals with lived experience that one of the biggest barriers to accessing services is not being able to work with the same provider consistently. Culturally, if someone finds a provider who shares their background and is forced to switch just to access different services, they’re less likely to follow through. By creating systems where coordinated care allows a client to stay with the same provider even if there are gaps in services, we’ve significantly improved the level of service we can offer, particularly for marginalized populations.
What challenges do you see in making racial equity a core part of homelessness response rather than just an initiative or an add-on?
One of the challenges we face in making racial equity a core part of our homelessness crisis response system is that many of the strategies and best practices we’ve implemented to address systemic barriers can also be obstacles to full integration of equity. Internal bias is deeply ingrained and often unconscious, and while we can work to address it, it may never be completely eradicated from everyone’s mindset.
To truly embed racial equity, it’s crucial that we maintain ongoing training opportunities and actively nurture inclusivity within our system. We’ll also need to continue combating harmful, willfully ignorant narratives that only serve to keep people complacent. These narratives often focus on the discomfort of unlearning biases, addressing survival mechanisms, and challenging ineffective processes — prioritizing the comfort of some over the real work that needs to be done for true equity.
How do you foster and support leadership development within your organization, particularly among individuals from underrepresented racial backgrounds, to ensure a diverse and empowered team?
Depending on who you ask, I might not be the most outspoken individual, and I generally don’t seek leadership roles for myself. However, what I truly enjoy is supporting strong leaders — and those with leadership potential — by helping their ideas, dreams, and concepts become a reality.
While great ideas can come from anyone, we can expand the pool of perspectives within a team through the lens of inclusion. It’s important to create space in different environments and give people, especially those who might shy away from leadership, the opportunity to lead at all levels of our homeless crisis response system. This allows them to do so without having their voices diminished due to perceived authority or lack of formal position.
I prefer to focus on uplifting all voices by fostering safe environments where new leaders feel empowered to show up authentically for themselves and their community.
“It’s important to create space in different environments and give people, especially those who might shy away from leadership, the opportunity to lead at all levels of our homeless crisis response system.“
KAYVIN HILL
Can you share an example of a time when you saw racial equity principles truly making a difference in your community’s approach to homelessness?
Our community has worked hard to center the voices of those who are overrepresented in our system at all levels. One of the initiatives I’m most proud of is the Lived Experience Housing Steering Committee (LEHSC). The LEHSC was created following the declaration of racism as a public health crisis in Thurston County. Initially, LEHSC started as a BIPOC group of individuals who had direct experience with our Homeless Crisis Response System, and their purpose was to provide input on all aspects of our system. While the purpose remains the same, it has evolved into a BIPOC-led intersectional group and as the members gain confidence to advocate for shifts in our community I hope to eventually see their influence spread beyond Thurston County.
The LEHSC has been instrumental in offering direct feedback on homeless services programs, policies, codes of conduct, and best practices. They’ve also engaged with state-level staff, including homeless response teams from the previous governor’s office. Additionally, they maintain seats on our advisory boards that make critical funding decisions for homeless services, including the current two-year funding cycle.
They are also giving direct feedback and vetting of our local five-year plan to address homelessness and housing through its drafting phase.
Looking ahead, what gives you hope about the future of this movement?
As we continue making progress, the data consistently highlights what is and isn’t working. Even though there will always be a minority who use their opinions and false equivalencies to discredit the work being done, the outcomes eventually speak for themselves. When I connect with my peers across the country, it’s inspiring to hear how we’re all tackling the same roadblocks and battling the same perspectives that have long been barriers to our shared goal of “Housing First” for all. The revolution may not be televised, but it will certainly be digitized.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself and your community?
When I first came into the role as Built for Zero coordinator, I didn’t fully understand the amount of groundwork that had been laid at the administrative level to create a more equitable and transparent system. We’re not a large community by most measures (many people mistakenly think Seattle is the capital), and with 81% of the population being “white,” we face the typical challenges of a community with limited diversity. I personally struggle with the lack of diversity and the tokenization that often happens as a result.
That said, I’m deeply grateful to my peers who encouraged me to apply, my supervisors who have championed and mentored me, and to a community that, despite its challenges, is more dedicated to this work than not.
