President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Thursday to restore safety to America’s cities and remove troubled individuals from the streets. The new policy will allow states and the federal government to provide homeless individuals with the help they need while incarcerating those who continue to commit crimes.
The president explained in the executive order that the number of individuals living on the streets totaled a record 274,224 people during the last year of the Biden administration. He added that an “overwhelming majority” of this homeless population “are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both,” with about two-thirds of them extensively using hard drugs such as methamphetamines, cocaine, and opioids. Trump is again fulfilling a significant campaign promise with this executive order.
“When I am back in the White House, we will use every tool, lever, and authority to get the homeless off our streets,” Trump said in a campaign video in 2023. “We want to take care of them, but they have to be off our streets. There is nothing compassionate about letting these individuals live in filth and squalor rather than getting them the help they need. We need professionals to help them.”
The executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees that limit State and local governments’ ability to commit individuals on the streets who are a risk to themselves or others,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Bondi will work with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to prioritize grants for jurisdictions that “enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting, and track the location of sex offenders.”
The administration will also redirect funding to ensure that homeless individuals on the streets receive proper care. Homeless people who need help will be “moved into treatment centers, assisted outpatient treatment, or other facilities.” Sex offenders will also no longer be housed in facilities with children, with new exclusive housing for women and children.
The new executive order received an outpouring of support online.
“Anyone who has walked around a city has encountered people – mentally ill, drunk, stoned, violent, threatening those around them – who need to be institutionalized,” commentator Byron York posted on X. “It is not a humane policy to have them sleeping on the streets. This is a good thing.”
“Letting mentally ill people suffer and die on the streets is cruel,” legal expert Mike David added. “Cruel to them. Cruel to those around them. Trump’s order is clear: Americans don’t have to live like this.”
Utah State Rep. Tyler Clancy also praised Trump in a post on X for issuing the executive order. He said that the president initiated a “necessary pivot from failure to common sense.”
“The truth is simple: the streets are a death sentence for our mentally ill & drug addicted brothers & sisters,” Clancy said. “Tents are not treatment. Public parks are not detox centers. And unchecked lawlessness is not compassion.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained the importance of the executive order as an effort to “end homelessness across America” in a statement to USA Today.
“By removing vagrant criminals from our streets and redirecting resources toward substance abuse programs, the Trump Administration will ensure that Americans feel safe in their own communities and that individuals suffering from addiction or mental health struggles are able to get the help they need,” she said.
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
Thank goodness people will get off the street and stop living in their cars. Etc.
I hope this works…
It’s better than doing nothing.
Good luck in L. A.!
Somehow the democrats will turn this into Trump is making homelessness illegal and being a big bad meanie. My state of Oregon (yeah, I know!!) spent 20 million MORE last year and now we have twice as many homeless people. Could have put that toward fixing our roads. Yeah, great Governor we have.
How do you stop access to and use of drugs, that is the root of the problem. Mentally lii were in the institutions once upon a time until bleeding heart experts decided it was cruel , that living on the street was much better. We the flower children screwed up royally and there are those who want to follow in the same screwed up foot steps.
This is an overwhelming problem and I do not see how throwing a ton of money on it is going to help that much. Many of these people are drug addicts that need to be cared for and get clean. Not very many will actually stay clean and sober. Then there are many who are simply mentally ill. Where are they going to go? These people are not just people who are just out of a job, this is the style of life they want.
Watch now the democrat response: Cities that they rule will continue to grow sanctuary’s for making more homeless.
Five of America’s largest cities—Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles—are in freefall.
Crime is surging.
Budgets are busted.
Taxpayers are covering the cost of illegal immigration.
Their local leadership, dominated by progressive policies, continues to protect lawbreakers rather than enforce the law.
These cities share more than just size—they all call themselves “sanctuary cities.”
But sanctuary from what?
They shelter illegal immigrants while allowing crime and poverty to rise.
They punish law-abiding citizens with taxes, debt, and instability.
They’re actively resisting the enforcement of immigration laws.
And they are being run down specifically by the worldview of radical left-wing Democrats.
Good work, Mr. President! Now…please follow through.
Let’s hope that state and local governments get onboard with this approach to homelessness. The problem is, it will take a lot of $$ to get people off the streets to the help they need – especially if they need to be institutionalized long-term.
If anyone reading this has been to Austin, Texas lately the homeless problem there has gotten pretty bad there too.
I do some support for a shelter in my city that has been successful with taking in people in need. These people commit to a program to better themselves (which for some involves getting off drugs) and sharpening life skills. Several end up gaining employment and returning to society as productive members. However, these people are there because they want to get clean and sober.
Ok, so who are the ultra-wealthy (names please) and how much did they get? How did you get your information regarding these tax breaks?
STOP supporting ILLEGALS! Seek retribution from CORRUPT local and state politicians! Use that money to HELP the homeless Americans help themselves. Not a welfare program! Instead, investments should be made to help homeless Americans get off the streets (with temporary rehabilitation-type housing & support), have access to counseling, and establish job training programs.
What will you and democrats take credit for? Oh yes, creating homelessness or making it worse in the first place.
You must have a homeless brain. Trump was wrong about everything? You’re a step or two beneath a moron.
Nobody want to see homeless encampments in our cities. But taking homeless people off the streets and “addressing the homelessness crisis” are two different things. The executive order specifies block grant funding for states, but total funding in the FY26 budget for substance abuse and mental health services is reduced.
Wealthy create jobs, the not so rich not so much. Get rich so you can get tax breaks to create good jobs.
How many executive orders has Trump signed without have a plan or a team behind it? I am excited to find out what Trump’s administration plan to do about the homeless population. Then, I will criticize if need be.
Move to Blue States then??