President Trump signed the Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets executive order, framing homelessness as a “public safety crisis” that prioritizes institutional treatment, civil commitment, and law-enforcement solutions.
The order:
- Expands police involvement and institutionalization in response to homelessness;
- Supports broader use of civil commitment for individuals with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorders;
- In a statement, the National Alliance to End Homelessness points out that this “calls for reversing policies that prevent the forcible and involuntary commitment of people living with mental illness. This defies a 26-year settled legal precedent in Olmstead v. L.C., the Supreme Court case that guarantees people with disabilities have the right to live in the community with necessary support.”
- Conditions federal funding to localities and states on the enforcement of laws against drug use, loitering, and urban camping; and
- Cuts funding to organizations using “‘harm reduction’ or ‘safe consumption’ efforts that only facilitate illegal drug use and its attendant harm.”
What They’re Saying: The National Homelessness Law Center issued a statement condemning the EO, “which deprives people of their basic rights and makes it harder to solve homelessness.”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness also issued a statement,
“Mental illness is not a crime, and people with mental illness deserve to be treated as human beings, with dignity and respect. While we agree that homelessness is an urgent crisis in our country, to truly address the systemic causes of this crisis, we should be pouring resources into treatment to improve early access to care and investing in supportive housing and other wrap-around services.”Why It Matters: The EO marks a major shift in federal homelessness policy, moving away from a community-based, “Housing First” framework towards institutional care, potentially reshaping how programs are funded and delivered nationwide.
