President Donald Trump’s recent executive order will deepen the nation’s homelessness crisis, according to longtime advocates.
The July 24 directive withdraws support for Housing First and calls on reversing policies that prevent the involuntary commitment of people living with mental illness.
“We must be honest about what this order does and does not do,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center. “This order like Trump’s budget cuts and policy reversals will make homelessness worse and will keep people homeless longer. This order does not fund any housing. It does not address the leading cause of homelessness—rents that are too high, and it does not fund any new support or services.”
In a call with reporters, he said the order “violates civil liberties, expands the use of police and institutionalization to respond to homelessness, and prioritizes funding for states that treat homelessness as a crime.”
Rabinowitz and others working to end homelessness are closely watching to see how federal agencies carry out the executive order. Once that becomes clear, that’s when legal challenges may take place.
Until then, advocates are sounding a warning against the directive.
“The vast majority of people experiencing homelessness do not have a mental illness nor do they have a substance-use disorder,” said Marcy Thompson, vice president of policy and programs at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “Interchangeably, the majority of people who have a mental illness or a substance use disorder are in fact housed. This executive order aims to undermine established legal protections for people with disabilities, and it disregards widely understood and adopted best practices, including Housing First and community-based care.”
The president’s approach “takes us back decades to when people were forcibly committed without due process, when decisions were made based on stereotypes and bias,” Thompson added.
While the nationwide number of people experiencing homelessness rose to a record high at more than 771,000 last year, a number of cities, including Los Angeles and Dallas, saw a decline in their homeless counts.
These communities are using data to guide their approaches, which include Housing First, according to Mary Frances Kenion, chief equity officer at the Alliance.
Under the strategy, people experiencing homelessness are provided with stable, affordable housing quickly without prerequisites. Voluntary supportive services, such as case management, mental health treatment, and substance-use services, are offered to help people remain housed and improve their well-being.
Research has shown that Housing First is an effective way to end homelessness, and it saves taxpayers money because once people are housed they use expensive services like emergency rooms less often.
The costs of Trump’s order will be exponential to taxpayers, states, and local governments, according to homeless organizations.
“Trump and his billionaire cronies are so out of touch that they think homelessness is a choice rather than the result of high rents and low wages,” Rabinowitz said. “They think we can punish or arrest our way out of homelessness, but they’re dead wrong. Only housing and supports can solve homelessness.”
