President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to crack down on homelessness across the country.
The executive order aims to make it easier to house homeless people with serious drug addictions and mental conditions in humane “long-term institutional settings” and encourages states to enforce existing laws against public drug use and squatting.
“Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe. The number of individuals living on the streets in the United States on a single night during the last year of the previous administration — 274,224 — was the highest ever recorded,” the order states. “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order. Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens.”
As part of the order, Trump directed his administration to seek to reverse federal and state judicial precedents and consent decrees that prevented the commitment of “individuals with mental illness who pose risks to themselves or the public” into “appropriate facilities for appropriate periods of time.”
The order also encourages his administration to offer grants that motivate states to crack down on public drug use, urban camping, loitering, and urban squatting.
Trump also directed his administration to stop funding programs that promote “harm reduction” or the “safe consumption” of drugs. During the Biden administration, there was public outcry after a report said that the administration was distributing free crack pipes in “safe smoking kits.”
In 2024, homelessness reached its highest total since 2007, when data collection began, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. On a single night in 2024, there were roughly 771,480 people without homes, including 274,224 who had no shelter at all. California had the largest homeless population in the country, with estimates placing the total around 187,000.
The Supreme Court ruled last year that local ordinances restricting camping on public property do not violate the Constitution’s prohibition against enacting cruel and unusual punishments under the Eighth Amendment.
On Friday, Trump was asked about a group of homeless people camping outside the Treasury Department.
“I think it’s terrible and we’ll have them removed immediately,” he told reporters. “We’ve got to get the mayor to run this city properly. This city has to be run. You know, I have the right to take it over, and I think it’s terrible.”
REPORTER: “I saw homeless people sleeping right outside the gates of the White House…” @POTUS: “I think it’s terrible and we’ll have them removed immediately.” pic.twitter.com/iC2NX8RgOh
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 25, 2025
Trump has long threatened to strip the authority of Washington D.C. from Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser. Bowser has previously said that homeless encampments are “not technically permitted in the District” and has signaled she would be open to working with the White House to address the problem.
