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Leading Democrats and advocates for the homeless are criticizing an executive order President Donald Trump signed this week, aimed at removing homeless people from the streets. The order suggests committing homeless individuals without their consent to mental health or drug treatment facilities.
Trump directed his Cabinet heads to prioritize funding for cities that crack down on open drug use and street camping, with the goal of enhancing public safety. The executive order states: “It’s not compassionate to do nothing. Shifting these individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment is the most proven way to restore public order.”
Homelessness has become more prevalent in recent years due to rising housing costs, especially in states like California where there aren’t enough homes to meet demand. Additionally, drug addiction and overdoses have surged with the availability of cheap and potent fentanyl.
The president’s order might target liberal cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, which Trump views as too lenient on street conditions. However, many concepts in the order have already been proposed or tested in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic mayors have worked for years to get people off the streets and into treatment.
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Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for cities to clear encampments even if residents had nowhere else to go. Advocates say Trump’s new order is vague, punitive, and unlikely to end homelessness effectively. Newsom has directed cities to clean up homeless encampments and increased funding for addiction and mental health treatment programs.
His office stated that the executive order relies on harmful stereotypes and focuses more on “creating distracting headlines and settling old scores.” “But, his imitation (even poorly executed) is the highest form of flattery,” spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in a statement, referring to the president’s call for strategies already in use in California.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has emphasized clean and orderly streets by banning homeless people from living in RVs and urging acceptance of the city’s offers of shelter. In Silicon Valley, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan recently pushed a policy change that makes a person eligible for jail if they reject three offers of shelter.
Trump’s executive order tasks Attorney General Pam Bondi and secretaries for health, housing, and transportation to prioritize grants to states and local governments that enforce bans on open drug use and street camping. Devon Kurtz, the public safety policy director at the Cicero Institute, a conservative policy group, praised the order. He acknowledged California’s efforts but said Trump’s order adds teeth.
Steve Berg, chief policy officer at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, called parts of the order vague. “What is problematic about this executive order is not so much that law enforcement is involved — it’s what it calls on law enforcement to do, which is to forcibly lock people up,” he said. “That’s not the right approach to dealing with homelessness.”
Mayor Karen Bass of California’s most populous city, Los Angeles, opposes punishing sweeps and says her city has reduced street homelessness by working with homeless individuals to get them into shelter or housing.
“This moving people from one street to the next or from the street to jail and back again will not solve this problem,” she said in a statement.
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