The Trump administration is touting a sweeping transformation of Washington, D.C., claiming it has cleared homelessness from both local and national parks one year after launching a federal task force aimed at cleaning up the nation’s capital.
The Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, launched via an executive order in March 2025, was designed to make the district “safe, clean and pleasant.” One year later, the White House says the initiative has delivered dramatic results, including eliminating homeless encampments between National Park Service units in the district-area parks.
“For one year, President Donald Trump’s D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force has been working … to restore greatness to our nation’s capital,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The effort has focused heavily on crime and quality-of-life enforcement, Rogers said, adding that the task force has “successfully arrested dangerous criminals” and “removed known gang members from our streets.”
The administration also pointed to its handling of homeless people, saying it connected more than 350 homeless individuals with mental health services after clearing roughly 150 homeless encampments.
Rogers further highlighted visible changes across federal spaces, including the removal of “all graffiti from the National Mall and Memorial Parks” and repairs to “six fountains.”
She also said the task force reduced concealed carry permitting wait times “from four months to just one day,” calling the broader initiative a success that “will continue … to keep D.C. safe and beautiful.”
TRUMP SAID HE ‘NEVER’ WANTS TO TAKE NATIONAL GUARD OUT OF DC
The announcement also comes as Trump has extended the National Guard’s deployment in the district through 2029. The National Guard was initially deployed when the president declared a “crime emergency” in August 2025 and was originally authorized for 30 days.
“I never want to take them out of D.C.,” Trump said in a Thursday Cabinet meeting, referring to the National Guard. “I mean, maybe somebody later on will do it, but I never want to.”