Trump’s remarks on homelessness in DC spark concerns among homeless advocates

President Donald Trump vowed this week to rid Washington, D.C., of homeless encampments, issuing a warning that the “homeless have to maneuver out, IMMEDIATELY.” Although what these plans will seem like, together with the place folks will go, is unclear, sparking issues amongst advocacy teams.

Whereas previewing an announcement relating to D.C., Trump told those experiencing homelessness in a social media submit on Sunday, “We provides you with locations to remain, however FAR from the Capital.”

In his remarks the next day, Trump stated that the federal authorities shall be “eradicating homeless encampments from throughout our parks” in D.C. as a part of an effort to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.”

“There are lots of locations that they’ll go, and we will assist them as a lot as you’ll be able to assist. However they will not be allowed to show our capital right into a wasteland for the world to see,” Trump stated throughout a press briefing on Monday while announcing plans for the federal authorities to take over the D.C. police division and deploy Nationwide Guard troops in D.C.

Dismantling homeless encampments isn’t a brand new observe in D.C. for both the Trump administration or native authorities, Dana White, the advocacy director for Miriam’s Kitchen, a nonprofit targeted on ending persistent homelessness in D.C., informed ABC Information.

“What is especially startling is the imprecise language about eradicating them from the district altogether, with none particulars about the place they’d go, who would transport them, how that is funded, what which means for his or her human and civil rights,” White stated of Trump’s current remarks.

Donald Whitehead Jr., govt director of the D.C.-based Nationwide Coalition for the Homeless, stated that although Trump talked about homelessness throughout Monday’s press convention a number of occasions, there was “no concrete details about the right way to handle the difficulty,” comparable to sources that will be developed to handle the difficulty in a non-punitive matter, or the place folks shall be moved.

“Our query is, is that this the identical resolution that we have seen with the immigration inhabitants? Are folks simply going to be moved to distant locations?” he stated.

“Actually, for a homeless advocate, it was actually an information-less press convention,” Whitehead stated. “It factors to it being extra of a stunt than an precise convention about options to homelessness.”

The 2 executive orders issued Monday, which have been the main focus of Trump’s press briefing, didn’t particularly point out homelessness.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser informed reporters Monday that her workplace has not gotten any extra particulars from the White Home however shall be following up with Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi.

“We actually have not gotten any extra element in regards to the plan, in regards to the phrases that he stated,” she stated throughout a press briefing Monday afternoon when requested about Trump’s remarks on homelessness. “It wasn’t referenced within the govt order that got here down.”

“I consider he had a earlier govt order that additionally recognized Legal professional Basic Bondi as some extent of contact because it pertains to homelessness and such, so we’ll observe up along with her,” Bowser continued.

On any given evening in D.C., there are 798 unhoused folks on the road, in response to the Community Partnership, a nonprofit working to forestall homelessness in D.C.

In March, Trump issued an executive order for the removing of homeless encampments on federal land inside D.C. Since then, the U.S. Park Police have eliminated over 70 homeless camps, Inside Secretary Doug Burgum stated Monday.

Final month, Trump additionally signed an executive order looking for to make it simpler for cities and states to take away homeless folks from the streets and into therapy facilities by reversing judicial precedents and ending consent decrees. It additionally seems to be to redirect federal funds towards packages that sort out substance abuse and targets “housing first” insurance policies, which prioritize everlasting housing as step one in addressing homelessness.

The orders have been met with pushback from homeless advocates, who contend that everlasting, inexpensive housing with supportive companies is a confirmed resolution for chronically homeless folks, and that dismantling homeless encampments is a counterproductive technique to resolving homelessness.

“After we clear encampments, we disconnect folks from the companies they should survive and to start out the method of being housed, and sometimes disconnects them from their belongings and from the communities that they shaped in encampments,” White stated.

With out inexpensive housing, folks will more than likely pop up in a brand new camp, he and Whitehead stated.

“They’re principally moved from one web site to a different as a result of there’s not sufficient shelter beds to fulfill the wants of the inhabitants in D.C.,” Whitehead stated. “They do not have a spot to go. There is not sufficient shelter. There definitely is not sufficient housing.”

In accordance with D.C.’s most up-to-date census of individuals experiencing homelessness, launched in Might, there was an total 9% lower in homelessness in 2025 from the earlier 12 months, together with an 18.1% lower amongst households and a 4.5% lower amongst single people.

White stated Miriam’s Kitchen is working to make it possible for single adults experiencing persistent homelessness are prioritized in funding and coverage.

“It is definitely a extra tense atmosphere, as a result of of us who’re unhoused and housing advocates alike do not actually know what to anticipate from this administration,” he stated. “We’re simply going to attempt to proceed to offer our companies as regular and put together to reply quickly as wanted.”