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 appear to be, together with the place individuals 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 publish on Sunday, “We gives you locations to remain, however FAR from the Capital.”

In his remarks the next day, Trump stated that the federal authorities will likely 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 various locations that they will go, and we’ll assist them as a lot as you’ll be able to assist. However they’re going to 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 is just not a brand new follow in D.C. for both the Trump administration or native authorities, Dana White, the advocacy director for Miriam’s Kitchen, a nonprofit centered on ending persistent homelessness in D.C., advised ABC Information.

“What is especially startling is the obscure language about eradicating them from the district altogether, with none particulars about the place they might go, who would transport them, how that is funded, what meaning for his or her human and civil rights,” White stated of Trump’s latest 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 instances, there was “no concrete details about find out how to handle the problem,” akin to sources that will be developed to deal with the problem in a non-punitive matter, or the place individuals will likely be moved.

“Our query is, is that this the identical resolution that we have seen with the immigration inhabitants? Are individuals 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 had been the main target of Trump’s press briefing, didn’t particularly point out homelessness.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser advised reporters Monday that her workplace has not gotten any extra particulars from the White Home however will likely be following up with Lawyer Common 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 imagine he had a earlier govt order that additionally recognized Lawyer Common Bondi as some extent of contact because it pertains to homelessness and such, so we’ll observe up together with her,” Bowser continued.

On any given evening in D.C., there are 798 unhoused individuals 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 individuals from the streets and into remedy facilities by reversing judicial precedents and ending consent decrees. It additionally seems to be to redirect federal funds towards packages that deal with 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 individuals, and that dismantling homeless encampments is a counterproductive technique to resolving homelessness.

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

With out inexpensive housing, individuals will probably 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 satisfy 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 keeping with D.C.’s most up-to-date census of individuals experiencing homelessness, launched in Could, there was an general 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 ensure that single adults experiencing persistent homelessness are prioritized in funding and coverage.

“It is definitely a extra tense atmosphere, as a result of people 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 standard and put together to reply quickly as wanted.”