Last week, President Trump signed an executive order that urges states and local governments to further criminalize people experiencing homelessness, force them into institutional settings, and violate their privacy.
All Home’s Interim Chief Executive, Brett Andrews, released the following statement in response.
“This executive order may well lead the country to a new low point in the fight against homelessness. It undermines decades of evidence and practice proving that the most effective way to address homelessness is by first meeting the essential need for housing. Only with a safe, stable place to call home can people benefit from supportive services to help them deal with any underlying behavioral, health, or economic challenges. [Learn more about the EO and its impacts from Ann Oliva at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.]
“‘Housing First’ has been the core philosophy of the federal government since the first Bush Administration, and is credited with cutting veteran homelessness in half over the past decade. By contrast, this executive order is a grab bag of the worst ideas for addressing homelessness, which are roundly opposed by experts and service providers.
“The harmful policies included in the president’s executive order, arriving amidst federal and state funding cuts, could have dire consequences in the Bay Area. Recently HUD also announced that local governments will have to reapply for federal Continuum of Care grants—critical funding that serves as the backbone for homelessness response systems around the country. This program was supposed to be on a two-year cycle with an automatic renewal for fiscal year 2025, but instead, this disruptive change is likely to be a vehicle for the Trump Administration to tie federal homelessness funding to its new policy direction.
“As a result, our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness are going to have a harder time getting the care and support they need to get housed and healthy. Housing and service providers will face increased uncertainty and administrative burdens, threats to funding, and disruptions to established programs that will reduce how many people they can serve.
“While homelessness is increasingly politicized and some elected leaders want to sweep the problem out of sight, the evidence remains clear: housing solves homelessness. Here in the Bay Area, the people who work in our homelessness response systems know what works to help people in need. Now is the time for local leaders of courage and conscience to find creative ways to continue advancing evidence-based solutions to homelessness that respect civil and human rights. Local and state policymakers should step up to create legislation and funding opportunities consistent with Housing First principles, to provide the best possible care to the most number of people.”
