Using a Logic Model for Strategic Planning

The components of any strategy for responding to homelessness, regardless of the lead agency, should begin with a clear vision and goals that are shared among partners. This level of cross-systems planning can help clarify the purpose of the response and uncover solutions previously not considered. The process of aligning goals also helps partners cultivate a better understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities and identify where there may be gaps in services that need to be addressed. When planning a law enforcement response to homelessness, gaining the buy-in and visible leadership of police chiefs and sheriffs is also essential for positioning the response for success.

A logic model can be a very useful tool to support communication during this planning stage because it is a visual representation of a program or strategy that links activities to their purpose. For example, if local officials are planning to relocate people from an encampment, a logic model can demonstrate how coordinating with outreach workers can address needs that would likely result in people returning to the encampment a short time later if left unmet. Logic models also ultimately support assessments or evaluations of the implemented response because it is easy to visually see if the response met the intended purpose.

Because they are simple, concise visualizations that demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship, logic models are also helpful for explaining new responses to people whose buy-in is needed for success, including potential funders. And they can aid in identifying metrics that are important to monitor and share with research partners and people invested in the sustainability of the initiative.

While there is no universal format or style, all logic models require agencies to answer a series of questions that will detail, at a high-level, how they can attain the desired outcomes. They are also best built in coordination with cross-systems partners from homeless services, public/behavioral health, and criminal justice, and in consultation with people who have lived experience. The following five steps, and complementary questions, will help law enforcement agencies and their partners plan out their homelessness response using a logic model for success.

Tip: Develop a sustainability plan that identifies stakeholders, partners, and funding sources, as well as the measures and messaging strategies needed to engage them. For more information about what sustainability can look like, see Sustainability in Action.

Law Enforcement and Homelessness Service Systems Aligning and Sharing Goals

While law enforcement responses to homelessness are frequently complaint-driven, officers in some jurisdictions have either purposefully or incidentally been performing outreach and connecting people to services that meet basic needs.⁶ Generally, the goal of street outreach is to connect people to a coordinated entry process that results in stable housing with supports in place to keep people housed long term and interrupt cycling among the homelessness, criminal justice, and behavioral health systems. Since stable housing has been shown to reduce arrests and time spent in jail⁷ and some routine activities are criminalized when people experiencing homelessness carry them out in public,⁸ communities may want to consider housing people as one of their long-term strategies to promote public safety. However, connecting people with complex needs (especially those who have lived unsheltered for a long period of time) to housing requires a broad base of support from the community rather than a single agency.⁹

5 Steps for Building a Logic Model

1. Articulate shared goals, assumptions, and a theory of change.¹⁰

It is important to understand and document any assumptions about how and why change is expected to occur. This process helps facilitate better communication among partners, implementation, and ultimately, assessment of how well the law enforcement response is working. Consider carving out a specific public safety goal that all partners can agree on and then use that goal to define law enforcement’s role in addressing homelessness.

2. Determine the resources needed to make the law enforcement response happen.

Consider what the response will need in terms of staffing and operations, direct service to individuals, and the connections and partnerships that must be in place to support it. These are the resources and inputs that make the work happen.

3. Specify what the law enforcement response will do.

Identify the activities that must take place to achieve the desired outcomes. This identification will help cross-systems partners determine what can be measured to show if the response is working as intended and effectively.

4. Develop implementation measures to track progress.

The work products, or outputs, of the activities performed can be translated into implementation measures that will be used to monitor the law enforcement response. Implementation measures help agencies determine if the planned activities are taking place as intended or if adjustments need to be made.

5. Identify the outcomes you want to see as a result of the work.

These outcomes should be realistic and in service of the identified public safety goal. Because success is judged by measuring whether outcomes are achieved, they must be both attainable and connected to a broadly supported purpose.

Use the guide below to create your own logic model with the information you have gathered, and share it with front-line staff, administrators, funders, community leaders, and people with lived experience to receive feedback on the law enforcement response’s design. Note: When planning a new response, it may help to identify the desired outcomes first, then determine what activities would result in those outcomes and what resources will be needed to fully implement the activities. Implementation measures should demonstrate that activities are being completed as designed.

Questions to Consider While Building a Logic Model for Law Enforcement Homelessness Responses

Download the Questions to Consider.

Appendix

A. Sample Logic Model

This example of a logic model for a homeless outreach team, a team of law enforcement officers who engage in outreach and respond to calls related to homelessness, shows how a law enforcement response can be described to connect theory, operations, and outcomes, and develop associated metrics. It should be noted that other types of responses would be expected to lead to different outcomes, and the outcomes chosen should have a plausible connection to the activities performed.

B. Sample Implementation and Outcome Measures

In this example, components of the logic model in Appendix A are translated into metrics using a series of questions to consider.

IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES

Is the law enforcement response team coordinating with the homelessness service system, such as the local or statewide Continuum of Care?

• Homeless task force participation: Number of homeless task force meetings attended by a member of the team

How much of the team’s workload is spent responding to homelessness-related calls compared to outreach?

• Complaint and request-based calls:
  • Number of calls responded to by the team
  • Number of calls by call code/nature code
  • Number of calls by the entity initiating the call (community member complaint; request for assistance by a first responder such as fire, emergency medical services, or crisis worker; request for assistance by a service provider; other)
  • Time the team spent on scene (average, median)

• Outreach: Number of officer-initiated contacts related to human needs, access to treatment and services, transportation, and relationship building
  • Time the team spent per contact (average, median)

What services are people experiencing homelessness being connected to when they encounter the law enforcement response team?

• Connection to services: Number of people the response team connects to additional health, legal, treatment, nutrition, or employment services (better to count things like warm handoffs, appointments attended, or services delivered directly over brochures distributed or information given)

• Services:
  • Number of services initiated with help from the team
  • Number of services started by issue (housing, identification, basic needs, treatment, vocational, benefits enrollment, safeguarding during a weather emergency)
• Coordinated Entry sign-ups: Number of intakes into the Coordinated Entry system for access to housing
• Housing: Number of people connected to services by the team who are placed in housing
• Distribution of basic need items: Number of times the team offers food, clothing, equipment, or similar items to provide immediate relief

Is the team using the least restrictive enforcement tactics needed to accomplish public safety goals?

• Use of pre-arrest diversion:
  • Number of incidents where a person experiencing homelessness met the criteria for citation or arrest and accepted services as an alternative
  • Number of diversions made by type (divert from citation, divert from arrest, other)
  • Number of diversions made by offense category of the most severe offense that could be alleged (violent, property, drug, public order, other)

• Use of citation:
  • Number of incidents where a person was notified that they must pay a fine or appear in court on an assigned date
  • Number of citations given by offense category of the most severe offense that could be alleged (violent, property, drug, public order, other)
  • Number of citations given by outcome (fine, diversion, other)

• Use of arrest:
  • Number of incidents where a person was taken into custody and booked into jail
  • Number of arrests made by offense category of the most severe offense that could be alleged (violent, property, drug, public order, other)
  • Number of arrests made by outcome (sentenced to incarceration, sentenced to probation, diversion, other)
• Use of post-arrest diversion:
  • Number of incidents where a person experiencing homelessness was cited or arrested and subsequently accepted a diversion opportunity involving coordination or case management with the team
  • Number of diversions made by offense category of the most severe offense that could be alleged (violent, property, drug, public order, other)

OUTCOME MEASURES

How do the lives of individuals change?

• Reduction in arrests over time by any law enforcement agency serving the community, and the resulting time in local jail, of people connected to services
  • Arrested: Number and percentage of participants with at least one arrest in the following year after first engaging in services
  • Number of arrests: Average and median number of arrests per participant in the year after first engaging in services
  • Time incarcerated in local jail: Average and median number of days spent in jail per arrest

How does the community change?

• Reduction in visible encampments: Count of the number of encampments visible from the street within the community
• Increased community perceptions of safety and security: Qualitative findings from residents, businesses, and visitors who report they feel safe on streets, public transportation, and in public places like parks and playgrounds in the area targeted by the team
• Decrease in public order offenses: Calls for service related to public intoxication, vagrancy, loitering, trespassing, disorderly conduct, prostitution and related
• Decrease in calls for service about people experiencing homelessness: Calls for service flagged as involving a person experiencing homelessness

Tip: If possible, consider reporting implementation and outcome measures separately for people identified as experiencing chronic homelessness.

C. Sample Data Collection Plan

In this example, a data collection strategy and the required data elements are identified for each measure in Appendix B. For information about privacy considerations related to data collection, see Establishing an Information Sharing Approach.

D. Sample Scope of Work

This is an example of a scope of work that agencies leading a law enforcement response to homelessness can use to engage a research partner. It describes the assessment to be conducted and outlines expectations for the work to be completed.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The law enforcement agency (Agency) plans to implement a homeless outreach team (HOT) and requests assistance with problem identification and to subsequently understand whether the new response works as intended. The purpose of the new project is to address calls related to substance use, panhandling, camping, and trespassing.

OBJECTIVES

Assessment activities will inform planning and determine the feasibility of completing an outcome evaluation to demonstrate the degree in which project activities have compelled people experiencing homelessness to engage in services; reduced arrests; and increased perceptions of safety and security in the community. Objectives for the assessment activities described are as follows:

• To identify the problem that should be addressed and understand the potential impact of proposed solutions;
• To assess progress toward completing activities as intended during program planning;
• To identify and analyze unintended consequences resulting from the activities as currently implemented;
• To determine whether there is a plausible connection between the activities and the planned desired outcomes;
• To assess the existence and quality of data needed to complete an outcome evaluation and to identify any related concerns about privacy and confidentiality of the necessary data

ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

The research partner will use a mixed methods approach to provide a comprehensive understanding of the project and inform recommendations for program planning. Analysis will detail the HOT team’s workload related to responding to calls for service and performing outreach-related activities, the services and resources people experiencing homelessness access as a result of the team’s intervention, and the use of enforcement tactics by the team.

The research partner will collect three years of administrative data related to law enforcement response activities and will document project context and practices by gathering information from key stakeholders such as organizational leaders, program participants, and community members. Data collected for the project will include personally identifiable information, and the research partner will maintain data securely and preserve the confidentiality of the information. Release of information or materials produced through the assessment to outside parties should always be cleared with agency staff. Plans for publishing results should be discussed and agreed upon prior to submitting materials for publication.

To keep project staff informed, the research partner will attend monthly staff meetings and set up regular meetings as required to maintain communication. In addition, the research partner will submit quarterly reports to agency leadership detailing the work performed and the status of assessment activities.

Research partner responsibilities will include:

• Conducting a literature review on practices related to law enforcement responses to homelessness
• Developing an assessment plan informed by program staff input
• Conducting focus groups with staff, partners, and participants
• Establishing and overseeing procedures for ensuring confidentiality and quality of the data
• Developing data collection protocols
• Analyzing administrative and original data to produce program measures
• Producing reports and presenting findings to agency and city leadership

DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE, AND BUDGET

Assessment activities are expected to be completed within one year and should document the important findings, conclusions, and recommendations to be presented to agency leadership and elected officials. The total project fee for the scope of work outlined will be paid in four equal installments. Payments will be tied to the successful completion of key project milestones as follows:

• Phase 1: Assessment planning, document review, literature review
• Phase 2: Data collection
• Phase 3: Data cleaning and analysis
• Phase 4: Report and presentation development