Trump shifts homelessness policy to forced treatment

The main point: President Trump is vowing a new approach to homelessness that involves forcibly moving people and mandating mental health/addiction treatment.

• This is a major departure from the nation’s leading homelessness policy, which for decades has prioritized housing as the most effective way to combat the crisis — Housing First.

The details: White House officials have not announced a formal policy but are opening the door to a treatment-first (rather than housing-first) agenda and an overhaul of housing and social service programs.

• Campaign plan: Trump outlined his vision during the campaign, calling for new treatment facilities to be opened on large parcels of government land where people who are homeless could receive treatment or face arrest.
• HUD cuts: Department of Housing and Urban Development Administrator Scott Turner has outlined massive staffing and funding cuts, targeting Housing First initiatives in particular. And through executive order, Trump slashed the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
• Housing First out, punitive approach in: The administration is telling local governments it will not enforce homelessness contracts “to the extent that they require the project to use a housing first program model.” Trump is pushing for a punitive approach that would impose fines and jail time on people experiencing homelessness and mandate sobriety and mental health treatment as the primary homelessness intervention. Project 2025 explicitly calls for an end to Housing First.

The broader context: The Housing First approach is also receiving pushback from some Democrats in response to public frustration over the growth of homeless encampments in recent years.

• But: Liberal leaders want to maintain existing streams of housing/homelessness funding, expand shelters, and move people off the streets, while conservatives blame Housing First for the rise in homelessness and are instead pushing for mandatory treatment and cutting housing subsidies.

Why it’s important: Evidence shows Housing First has been successful in moving people into permanent housing and improving health, but it has been severely underfunded and implemented unevenly (as has the response to addiction). Research also suggests involuntary treatment is not effective, particularly without the broader expansion of treatment and supports.

• Visible drug use and homelessness have been tied together, particular in the aftermath of COVID and amid the fentanyl/overdose crisis. For both issues, a public health approach of treatment and supportive services is needed, not a punitive response.

Read more: Trump Turns Homelessness Response Away From Housing, Toward Forced Treatment (KFF Health News)