It’s Already Proven: Criminalizing Homelessness Doesn’t Work
Jessilyn Averill
Latest Executive Order Brings Back Bad Policy
On the heels of the President signing an Executive Order (E.O.) to “end crime and disorder on America’s streets,” another concerning and escalating action happened: the deployment of National Guard troops in D.C. and the federal takeover of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department all in an effort to target and remove unsheltered people living in encampments near the White House.
First, it is important to remember that EOs can influence federal policy and direct federal agencies to modify their practices but cannot override or contradict current laws. Until a federal agency directly tells you to do something differently, continue to serve those experiencing homelessness using the best practices and care all our individual and family clients need.
While many of the provisions in the recent E.O. may be unconstitutional and challenged in federal court, it still has the potential to shift funding priorities and change enforcement policies. For example, according to the National Network for Youth, it is anticipated that new grant notices will include grant guidelines likely prohibiting the use of grant funds for housing first models and harm reduction strategies, instead requiring conditioning homeless assistance on treatment compliance rather than voluntary engagement. Furthermore, funding priorities may shift to jurisdictions that count few unsheltered individuals, potentially incentivizing artificially low Point-In-Time (PIT) counts to qualify for funding.[1] "We are going to hide the homelessness population, not solve it," says Nick Cook, Director of Public Policy for the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, in his recent interview with Mid-Michigan Now.[2]
What is most troubling about the language in the E.O. is its use of failed policy ideas that contradict decades of evidence-based practice. “Everything about the order is deeply concerning. It will do significant damage to individuals experiencing homelessness and will set back federal homelessness policy by 30 years,” Jeff Olivet said in his interview this month with D.C.’s street paper Street Sense Media. Olivet is the former Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the same agency effectively shut down by the Administration back in April, with all its staff put on administrative leave. In CSH’s statement, it emphasized that “mandating treatment without housing fails to address the root causes of homelessness, ignores the overwhelming data on our housing shortage, and will once again prove to be a financial burden for states and localities.”[3] Not to mention, the E.O. centers “on a false premise that communities have services like substance use treatment and psychiatric care on demand for those who need them, and that mandating participation will solve the problem. It will not.”[4]
CSH went on to further state that, “the Executive Order also promotes engaging the federal police force and detention centers to clear encampments, which would cause lasting harm to already vulnerable people – human beings who are parents, siblings, and loved ones who could otherwise thrive with the right support and a place to live.” It is hard to understand why this must be said again (and again and again), but in the words of Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC), “Arresting or ticketing people for sleeping outside makes homelessness worse, wastes taxpayer money, and simply does not work. The solution to homelessness is housing and supports, not handcuffs and jails.”[5] The Administration is bent on acting in bad faith with its public service responsibilities while eroding the public’s trust of it through the redirection of significant amounts of social service funds for more policing and hard-line immigration enforcement.
After the President’s press conference, Street Sense staff worked to confirm how those living in the encampments targeted for removal were responding to the news. Photo credit: Street Sense Media
Following the President’s press conference on August 11th announcing a “public safety emergency” in D.C., the city’s street paper, Street Sense, worked to confirm what was happening with those staying in the encampments being targeted. Street Sense reporters spoke to residents living in the encampments along I-66 about their reactions to Trump’s announcement and threat to remove encampments. One resident named George, who is from D.C. and has lived along the interstate for about two months with his dog Blue, is interested in moving into shelter, but does not want to leave Blue behind.
Another resident interviewed named G said the worst thing he does is drugs, and he would willingly go to jail if Trump went with him. He moved to the green along the interstate because it felt safer than his apartment building. He has found a community in his encampment over the last two months but has plans to move now because of the attention from Trump and media outlets.
Throughout the week after the press conference, Street Sense reporters followed what was happening with residents living outside in the encampments, leaving live updates on their website, social media, and blog.
NHLC is also following what is happening in D.C. Jesse Rabinowitz, Campaign and Communications Director at NHLC, talked on the latest episode of NPR’s Code Switch about what he is witnessing. On the show he noted that, “There are frequent clearings of homeless encampments in D.C., …this idea that D.C. has become this incredibly permissive place to experience homelessness is simply not true.” However, the police presence directed by the President is nothing like Rabinowitz has ever seen. “I got word that the police had begun evictions in northwest D.C. in the White House. I made it down there to see them trash about four or five tents near the border of, like, Foggy Bottom and into Georgetown. There was a police caravan with dump trucks of probably 20 to 30 police cruisers. It was an incredibly aggressive show of force, and nobody got helped.”
Rabinowitz was in Deschutes, Oregon in May when the Administration “evicted about 200 people from a national forest at 3 o'clock in the morning. People had nowhere to go. People were struggling to get by. People were terrified, and they moved to another federal forest that is going to be closed down, again, by the Trump administration. We are treating people like Whac-A-Mole, and it doesn't work.”[6]
Pivoting to Washtenaw County, the Sheriff’s Office has stated it refuses to treat homelessness as a crime. In her interview with MLive, Sheriff Alyshia Dyer said her office “will not use arrest or forced displacement ‘as a substitute for housing, treatment or dignity,’” Dyer likens the E.O. to the ‘war on drugs,’ which caused “mass incarceration, broken households, deep racial disparities and no meaningful improvement in public safety.”[7]
As reported by MLive, shelter staff at the Delonis Center in Ann Arbor have seen an increase in need for local housing, with more than 150 people waiting for a bed at any given time — a wait time of between five and seven months according to Dan Kelly, Executive Director at the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. In his interview with MLive, Kelly stressed that, “Communities need more affordable and subsidized housing, as well as housing with ‘wrap around’ programs for substance abuse and mental health treatment.”[8] Unironically, these are the types of services being undermined through federal funding cuts, either in H.R.1 (the Big, Beautiful Bill) or the proposed FY26 Federal Budget.
What Comes Next?
The President’s actions to punish those who are experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity by putting them in jail or forcing them into involuntary treatment programs or institutions are not a solution to ending homelessness. "The solution isn't to punish unsheltered people by putting them in jail," says Ann Oliva, CEO at the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). "The solution should be to provide them access to safe and affordable housing and the services they need to maintain that housing."
NAEH urges all communities to act now: start planning and taking steps to keep people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our community safe.
Adopt the Alliance’s housing-focused street outreach framework and strategies. These prioritize connecting people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to lifesaving, person-centered, and culturally responsive services while actively working to secure stable and permanent housing.
Implement one or more interim strategy for responding to unsheltered homelessness that prioritizes the safety, autonomy, and health as permanent housing is secured.
Meet with your local homelessness partners, faith-based organizations, and philanthropy partners as soon as possible to have a plan on what resources will be deployed if needed.
Another effort is to continue to show your support for the Housing Not Handcuffs Act, introduced in Congress this summer to stem the tide of federal arrests and ticketing of our unhoused neighbors. Use your voice to demand Congress invest in true solutions to homelessness: housing, not handcuffs. Take action here!
It is important to remember that the District of Columbia has no voting representation in Congress. Please contact your Congress members and demand that the President leave D.C. alone. Use this tool from partners at Free DC to get started.
Finally, NAEH put together a list of D.C. service providers to support during this federal homelessness crackdown. The President has already indicated that he plans similar occupation of other cities, so it is essential that we are all prepared to help one another out during future emergencies.
[1] National Network for Youth, “New Executive Order Further Threatens Individuals Who Are Unsheltered and in Crisis”; blog, 8/11/2025: https://nn4youth.org/2025/08/11/new-executive-order-further-threatens-individuals-who-are-unsheltered-and-in-crisis
[2] Mid-Michigan Now NBC25 and Fox66, “Trump's executive order on homelessness sparks concern in Michigan”; online news, 8/8/2025: https://midmichigannow.com/news/local/trumps-executive-order-on-homelessness-sparks-concern-in-michigan
[3] CSH (formerly Corporation for Supportive Housing), “Statement on Executive Order on Homelessness”; e-newsletter, 7/25/2025
[4] CSH (formerly Corporation for Supportive Housing), “Statement on Executive Order on Homelessness”; e-newsletter, 7/25/2025
[5] National Homelessness Law Center, “Unlawful Arrests and Forced Displacement of Homeless D.C. Residents Expected Today”; e-newsletter, 8/14/2025: https://housingnothandcuffs.org/2025/08/14/hnhnews2
[6] NPR Code Switch, “How Trump's D.C. Takeover Criminalizes Homelessness”; podcast, 8/20/2025: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/20/nx-s1-5502655/how-trump-dc-takeover-criminalizes-homelessness
[7] MLive News, “Washtenaw County Sheriff Won’t Treat Homelessness as Crime in Face of Trump Order”; online article, 8/16/2025: https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2025/08/washtenaw-county-sheriff-refuses-to-treat-homelessness-as-crime-in-face-of-trump-order.html
[8] MLive News, “Washtenaw County Sheriff Won’t Treat Homelessness as Crime in Face of Trump Order”; online article, 8/16/2025: https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2025/08/washtenaw-county-sheriff-refuses-to-treat-homelessness-as-crime-in-face-of-trump-order.html