Trump signs order pushing cities and states to remove homeless people from streets
Amid record high homelessness, Trump wants to move homeless people from the streets and into treatment centers.
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump took executive action on July 24 making it easier for cities and states to remove homeless people from the streets.
Trump signed an order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek to reverse federal and state judicial precedents and end consent decrees that limit local and state governments' ability to move homeless people from streets and encampments into treatment centers.
The move, first reported by Paste BN, also redirects federal funds to ensure the homeless people impacted are transferred to rehabilitation, treatment and other facilities, though it was not clear how much money would be allocated.
Under the order – which the White House has titled "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets" – Bondi is also required to work with the secretaries of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation to prioritize federal grants to states and cities that "enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting, and track the location of sex offenders."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement to Paste BN, said Trump is "delivering on his commitment to Make America Safe Again and end homelessness across America."
"By removing vagrant criminals from our streets and redirecting resources toward substance abuse programs, the Trump Administration will ensure that Americans feel safe in their own communities and that individuals suffering from addiction or mental health struggles are able to get the help they need," Leavitt said.
Trump's action follows major Supreme Court decision on homeless camps
Trump's action comes after the Supreme Court ruled in June that people without homes can be arrested and fined for sleeping in public spaces, overturning a lower court’s ruling that enforcing camping bans when shelter is lacking is cruel and unusual punishment.
The 6-3 decision, split among ideological lines in the conservative-majority court, upheld a ban in Grant Pass, Oregon, prohibiting homeless residents from sleeping outdoors. Homeless residents of the southern Oregon city of 38,000 face fines starting at $250 and jail time for repeat offenses.
In a statement, the National Homelessness Law Center condemned Trump's order, characterizing it as misguided at best, and counterproductive and dangerous at worst.
"The safest communities are those with the most housing and resources, not those that make it a crime to be poor or sick," said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center. “As a licensed mental health professional, I know that forced treatment is unethical, ineffective, and illegal."
"People need stable housing and access to healthcare," Rabinowitz said. Rather, Trump’s actions will force more people into homelessness, divert taxpayer money away from people in need, and make it harder for local communities to solve homelessness."
Across the United States, more than 771,800 people lived without housing in 2024, according to a HUD count taken annually on a single night in January. It was the highest tally ever recorded, an 18.1% jump from 2023, when officials counted about 650,000 people living in homeless shelters or in parks and on streets.
Many cities have struggled to build more affordable housing in recent years, while some communities have pushed for harsher laws banning tents and sleeping in public spaces.
Trump has often expressed his distaste of homeless camps, singling out the removal of encampments on parks and federal land in Washington as a priority.
Trump, in a 2023 campaign video, said: "We will use every tool, lever and authority to get the homeless off our streets. We want to take care of them, but they have to be off our streets.”
Other items in Trump's order include language that seeks to ensure that grants intended for substance use disorder prevention and recovery don't fund drug injection sites or illicit drug use.
The order also prohibits convicted sex offenders who receive homelessness assistance from being housed with children and supports new homeless programs to exclusively house women and children.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.