Opinion: Trump’s Homelessness Executive Order Is Making Homelessness Worse

On July 24, 2025, President Donald Trump signed his Executive Order on homelessness. This order, rooted in racist and misinformed stereotypes about homelessness, outlined a dangerous and disturbing vision for how this country should treat our unhoused neighbors. Instead of addressing the out-of-control cost of housing, which is the main cause of homelessness, Trump directed cities, states, and the federal government to make it a crime to experience homelessness, take away people’s basic rights, and revive failed and backwards policies.

This order was not just a symbolic statement; it was a governing blueprint. And just over a year later, it’s been operationalized by the Trump administration to wage an unprecedented and extreme attack on both people experiencing homelessness and the real solutions to homelessness, like housing and support.  

I witnessed the order’s early manifestations when Trump ordered federal agents to take over DC – where shelters are overflowing and housing is out of reach for far too many – with the express purpose of targeting homeless people. I saw federal agents gathering outside encampments to intimidate homeless Washingtonians and police speeding through the District as homeless communities were destroyed and displaced. In DC, the vast majority of people experiencing homelessness are Black. This is not an accident, but rather the result of purposeful systems that force Black people into homelessness and keep them there. Neither was it an accident that DC, a historically Black city with a Black mayor, is where Trump first tested his anti-homeless order.  

That was just the beginning. Last fall, politicians in Utah proposed a 1,300-bed detention camp for homeless people. And Louisiana passed a law paving the way to push homeless people into forced labor. Together, these laws clearly echo debtors’ prisons, mass incarceration, convict leasing and other white supremacist policies throughout history. Despite massive public outcry, Utah’s and Louisiana’s governors both justified these draconian bills by citing Trump’s anti-homeless order.

Meanwhile, federal agencies rushed to implement Trump’s anti-homeless wishes. HUD is attempting to rewrite funding guidelines and impose ideological mandates that could force at least 97,000 back into homelessness. The VA and DOJ are promoting the expansion of institutionalization and guardianships to take away rights away from homeless people, including homeless veterans. And RFK Jr.’s HHS is backtracking on mental health and substance use programs.  

We know that this approach is ineffective. Research has shown time and time again that making it a crime to be homeless only makes homelessness worse, and that the only real solutions are housing and support. As a homeless street outreach worker in DC, I saw this firsthand when clients move from the streets into housing. It was the stability and safety of housing that enabled them to get healthy, rest, and live with the dignity all people deserve.  

But Trump doesn’t care about real solutions. Like authoritarian leaders throughout time, he is using homelessness as a political football to distract us from his failures to bring down rents, make healthcare cheaper, and ensure that everybody can make ends meet. It’s easier for Trump and his backers to blame those most impacted by our rigged housing system – our homeless neighbors – instead of attacking the systems of racism and capitalism that are truly to blame. They pit us against each other because they are scared and know that together, we have the power to build a system that works for us all, not just for billionaires. It’s up to all of us to reject this authoritarian playbook before it is too late. 

History has shown us where this playbook leads. But history has also shown us that it does not have to be like this. When people come together to hold the government accountable, we can build a better tomorrow. To me, a better tomorrow begins when everyone – regardless of where they come from, what they look like, or who they love – has a safe place to call home.  

Jesse Rabinowitz is the Campaign and Communications Director at the National Homelessness Law Center and leads the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign. He lives and works in Washington, DC.