artifacts/incoming

Municipal Homelessness Legibility Map (Displacement & Externalities)

artifacts/incoming/municipal_homelessness_legibility_map_template.md

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Municipal Homelessness Legibility Map (Displacement & Externalities)

Purpose: Replace vague claims ("we don’t have a problem" / "cost is 0") with a loop-closed accounting of (1) what happens to people, (2) what it costs locally, and (3) what costs are exported. Use: Print this as a checklist. If a municipality cannot answer these fields, the missing answers indicate where details are being buried.

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A) Snapshot (what the city claims)

  • Official claim(s): (copy exact language from website/budget/council minutes)
  • Primary metric cited: (e.g., unsheltered count, complaints, park cleanliness)
  • Stated homelessness budget line(s): (quote exact line items; note if “$0” appears)

B) Core counts (monthly, last 12 months)

  • Unsheltered count within city limits: ____ (source + method)
  • Shelter placements achieved (not referrals): ____
  • Referrals offered: ____
  • Turn-aways due to capacity/eligibility: ____
  • Repeat contacts (same person multiple times): ____

C) Enforcement-to-outcome chain (monthly)

For each category (camping / loitering / panhandling / trespass / “quality-of-life”):

  • Contacts: ____
  • Citations: ____
  • Arrests / bookings: ____
  • Property seized: ____ (count + categories)
  • Storage provided? Y/N
  • Property returned? ____%
  • Service placement achieved within 72h: ____

D) Displacement / transport (the missing “42 shuttled out” line)

  • # transported out of jurisdiction: ____
  • Destination buckets (city/ZIP/region): ____
  • Reason codes: (voluntary reunification / service access / enforcement-linked / other)
  • Repeat transports (same person): ____
  • Partner agencies involved: ____

E) “Visibility management” costs (local, annual + monthly trend)

Goal: Re-label hidden homelessness handling costs as what they are: visibility management.

Line items to request/locate:

  • Encampment remediation / cleanup contracts: $____
  • Sanitation overtime linked to sweeps: $____
  • Police / ranger overtime linked to sweeps: $____
  • Storage/handling/destruction of seized property: $____
  • Legal costs (injunctions, lawsuits, settlements): $____
  • Navigation/outreach vendor contracts: $____

Total “visibility management” spend: $____

F) Capacity truth table (what “resources” actually mean)

For each listed provider on the city site (shelter/mission/services):

  • Beds available nightly: ____
  • Average wait time: ____
  • Eligibility barriers: ____
  • Turn-away rate: ____
  • Hours / location / access constraints: ____

G) Externalities (what the city exports)

If people are displaced, the cost shows up elsewhere.

Request/estimate (even coarse):

  • Receiving jurisdiction(s) named/known: ____
  • ER/EMS call changes correlated with sweeps (city + neighbors): ____
  • Jail bookings for municipal code violations: ____
  • Shelter load shifts in receiving areas: ____

H) Legibility tests (quick red flags)

Check any that apply:

  • [ ] Budget shows “$0 for housing homeless” but no displacement/transport line items.
  • [ ] City counts “referrals” as outcomes; no “placements achieved” metric.
  • [ ] Resources page lists providers without capacity/wait-time data.
  • [ ] Sweeps occur without tracking seizures/returns and downstream harms.
  • [ ] No destination reporting for transports (even aggregated).
  • [ ] “Public health / hygiene” language used without proportionality/due-process safeguards.

I) Responsibility map (who owns each lever)

Fill in names/titles (not just agencies):

  • Ordinances / park rules: ____
  • Enforcement policy: ____
  • Cleanup operations: ____
  • Service contracting: ____
  • Transport assistance: ____
  • Data/reporting owner: ____

J) Minimal public dashboard (what to publish)

If the city published only one page, it should show:

  1. Unsheltered count (trend)
  2. Placements achieved (trend)
  3. Enforcement contacts + citations (trend)
  4. Property seized/returned (trend)
  5. Transports out + destination buckets (trend)
  6. Total “visibility management” spend (trend)

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Notes

  • Privacy: destination + repeat metrics can be aggregated/anonymized; “privacy” should not block basic flow accounting.
  • Language hygiene: replace “cleanup” with “displacement + remediation” in analysis. The moral choice often hides in euphemisms.
  • Framing: the goal is not blame; it is loop closure: policy → movement → cost → outcomes → responsibility.