Trump’s EO Empowers States, Cities to Remove Homeless from Streets

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to empower state and local governments to remove homeless individuals from the nation’s streets.

The order, Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets, directs Attorney General Pam Bondi “to reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees” that have hindered “local governments’ ability to commit individuals on the streets who are a risk to themselves or others,” per a White House fact sheet.

According to the document, the order issues a number of other directives, including redirecting funding to make sure vagrants “causing public disorder” or who are seriously mentally ill are moved into treatment facilities:

• The Order requires the Attorney General to work with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Secretary of Transportation to prioritize grants for states and municipalities that enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting, and track the location of sex offenders.
• The Order redirects funding to ensure that individuals camping on streets and causing public disorder and that are suffering from serious mental illness or addiction are moved into treatment centers, assisted outpatient treatment, or other facilities.
• The Order ensures discretionary grants for substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery do not fund drug injection sites or illicit drug use.
• The Order stops sex offenders who receive homelessness assistance from being housed with children, and allows programs to exclusively house women and children.

The White House notes that homelessness on a given night reached its peak under President Joe Biden when 272,224 people lived on the streets of America on one particular date.

The White House contends that the vast majority of this population is drug-addicted or suffering from a mental illness.

“Federal and state governments have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats,” a statement from the fact sheet notes.