English
Stout was engaged by the Washington State Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCLA) to undertake an independent assessment of Washington State’s Eviction Defense Screening Line (EDSL).
OCLA initiated this engagement to better understand how the EDSL functions in practice and to evaluate whether the current screening and intake processes were operating efficiently and in alignment with the system’s intended purpose — namely, screening tenants for eligibility under Washington’s eviction right to counsel (RTC) and referring eligible individuals to OCLA-contracted legal services providers for legal representation.
Stout’s engagement involved qualitative and quantitative efficiency assessments. The qualitative assessment included conducting in-person and virtual observations of the screening and intake functions of four civil legal services organizations representing RTC clients, including the operator of EDSL. During these observations, Stout was able to see firsthand:
- How tenants contacted EDSL and the civil legal services organizations
- The operations of the EDSL (including the call center platform it used) and the civil legal services organizations
- What types of data were collected, and how it was collected
- Challenges within the screening and intake functions for tenants, the EDSL operator, and the civil legal services organizations
The quantitative assessment included requesting data from the EDSL operator and the civil legal services organizations to analyze and understand the call/intake volumes, response times, call durations, types of referrals made, and number of staff dedicated in screening and intake functions.
The independent assessment report included several recommendations to OCLA based on Stout’s qualitative and quantitative analyses aimed at increasing the efficiency of the EDSL and minimizing the barriers tenants had to experience when seeking representation in their eviction cases. OCLA has used Stout’s findings to request certain modifications to EDSL and to inform potential future funding decisions.
