On July 24, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” This order aims to make it easier for states and localities to criminalize individuals experiencing homelessness and to force them into involuntary treatment by instructing federal departments to prioritize federal grants for states that implement harmful, ineffective, and costly policies to address homelessness, such as bans on encampments, increased use of law enforcement, and the forced institutionalization of people experiencing homelessness. Additionally, it instructs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to withdraw support for Housing First policies. It requires HUD to mandate that recipients of homelessness assistance participate in mental health or substance abuse treatment as a condition for receiving aid. The EO also would end funding for life-saving programs, like harm reduction.
Affordable housing remains out of reach for millions, and no state has an adequate supply of affordable, available rental housing for people with the lowest incomes. With millions at imminent risk of losing their healthcare and food assistance, and 59,000 households who had previously experienced housing insecurity or homelessness at-risk of losing their rental assistance, our country cannot afford to divert crucial federal funds to localities that harm, mistreat, and criminalize unhoused individuals.
Read the Executive Order here.
Read the press statement about the Executive Order from NLIHC’s President and CEO Renee Willis here.