President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order seeking to overhaul how states approach the homelessness crisis.
The president’s directive orders the Department of Justice to roll back regulations restricting states and businesses from removing homeless people from the streets and moving them to treatment centers.
Arguing that most homeless people are drug users, Trump’s directive also incentivizes officials to “enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting” through federal funding. States and cities that seek to move homeless people off the streets and into rehab centers are more likely to receive government grants under the directive, which further ties funding to reforming the government’s approach to homelessness by shifting federal funding away from controversial “harm reduction” programs, viewed by critics as enabling homeless drug users.
In addition, instead of funneling federal funding into programs focused on offering homeless people housing and then treatment, Trump’s directive prioritizes support for programs that require sobriety during treatment and for cities that enforce homeless camping bans.
The president’s executive order comes after homelessness reached an all-time high in 2024, the same year the Supreme Court issued a ruling relaxing restrictions on states’ ability to regulate homelessness. The court’s decision last June ruled that banning people from sleeping and camping in public areas did not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
“Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe,” the president’s “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” order stated, adding that the overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs or have mental health problems.
“The Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats,” it added. “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order. Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety.”
Critics were swift to accuse Trump of taking a “punitive” approach to the homeless crisis on Thursday, with the National Coalition for the Homeless suggesting his executive order makes cities “more dangerous for residents who are poor.”
“Everyone deserves a safe place to live,” said NCH executive director Donald Whitehead, Jr., adding that the order ignores “decades of evidence-based housing” and will only “exacerbate the challenges faced by vulnerable individuals.”
Trump has long railed against the homelessness crisis, particularly targeting the issue in the nation’s capital.
“We have notified the Mayor of Washington, D.C., that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically including the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House. If she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her!” Trump said in March. “Washington, D.C. must become CLEAN and SAFE! We want to be proud of our Great Capital again.”
TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER TO TURN LA INTO HOUSING CENTER FOR UP TO 6,000 HOMELESS VETERANS
The president has also sought to address the issue in Los Angeles as California continues to grapple with some of the worst homeless rates in the country.
In May, he signed an executive order directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a center for thousands of homeless veterans on its West Los Angeles campus.