diiv sternman is a Senior Technical Assistance Specialist at the Alliance. diiv has spent two decades working at the intersections of homelessness and domestic violence crisis response. Their frontline work has spanned programs from hotlines, to shelters, transitional housing, day center, rapid rehousing, and coordinated entry across both crisis response sectors. Their work has sought to bridge the gaps in understanding of trauma and best practices for addressing housing crises in both fields, with a focus on the prevalence of trauma, correlations between trauma and homelessness, and the efficacy of trauma informed practices in programs designed to end homelessness.

They have experience leading the design and implementation of Coordinated Entry Systems promoting partnerships across human service sectors, increasing efficacy in service providers’ housing strategies, and applying a Racial Equity lens to system design and performance evaluation. They have led innovations in housing problem solving and homelessness diversion, landlord engagement, housing focused case management, increasing income through SOAR and workforce collaboratives, and deepening relationships between DV and homelessness crisis response systems and service providers. Through training and technical assistance, diiv hopes to help individuals and communities develop a deeper understanding of how trauma and homelessness are intertwined, tap into the deep wisdom in the field to creatively address the trauma of homelessness at the individual and system level, and identify concrete practices to make the work of ending homelessness more humane and effective.