On July 24, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order that allows—and incentivizes—states and cities to purge encampments of unhoused people, and force them into mental health or drug treatment facilities against their will. The order compounds this by directly attacking harm reduction services that protect vulnerable people.

In the name of “ending vagrancy and restoring order,” Trump’s directive promises to “remove vagrant individuals from our streets, redirecting federal resources toward programs that tackle substance abuse and returning to the acute necessity of civil commitment.”

“We condemn it,” Laura Guzman, executive director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition, told Filter. She fears for people on the streets, and can barely believe this is being presented as a solution. “The order deprives people of basic rights and it doesn’t solve homelessness. Arresting them and institutionalizing them? Just because they’ve experienced homelessness?”

The order explicitly rejects and attacks harm reduction efforts that are proven to protect lives and health. It specifically directs that Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants do not fund interventions such as syringe service programs or overdose prevention centers—which, it falsely claims, “only facilitate illegal drug use and its attendant harm.” It also jettisons “Housing First,” an approach that seeks to provide housing without preconditions such as quitting drug use or engaging in treatment.

It all amounts to replacing scarce, critical resources with fear and punishment.

Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center, pointed to the root causes of homelessness. “Everybody needs a safe place to live. Across America, sky-high rents are both the leading cause of homelessness and a primary cause of financial stress for most families,” he said. “Instead of helping people who are struggling to make ends meet, Donald Trump remains focused on backwards, expensive, and ineffective policies that make homelessness worse.”

But momentum towards forced institutionalization has been building for years, with conservative pundits and lawmakers painting US cities as hellscapes, left to rot due to overly liberal policies around homelessness and public drug use.

Unhoused people who use drugs or have mental health conditions are presented as a dangerous urban blight. They’re dehumanized as “zombies.” In his 2021 book San Fransicko, which made the case for forced confinement, activist Michael Shellenberger referred to a “zombie apocalypse” in the city. 

Trump’s order, which claims that “Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe,” echoes years of right-wing fearmongering.

Among Democrats, too, this demonization of poor people forced to live outdoors has eroded the taboo against involuntary confinement for mental health, substance use or simply the crime of not being able to afford a home.

In recent years, involuntary commitment of unhoused people and those who use drugs has gained traction among top lawmakers in blue cities and states, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Newsom is encouraging statewide encampment sweeps. He also oversaw the creation of CARE Courts (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment), where noncompliance with directed treatment can result in forced conservatorship, with personal decisions being taken over by relatives and others. In Los Angeles, “Laura’s law” allows the courts to order unhoused people into outpatient treatment. 

Amid media portrayals of disorder and danger linked to New York’s unhoused population—even though violent crime is historically low—Mayor Eric Adams directed the New York City police department to take people into custody even if they pose no danger to themselves or others.

Guzman worries that more ostensibly liberal leaders will take advantage of Trump’s order to institute the coercive programs they’ve wanted all along. She envisions that lawmakers in blue states will “jump on the bandwagon to arrest people who are homeless.”

“Nearly two-thirds of homeless individuals report having regularly used hard drugs like methamphetamines, cocaine, or opioids in their lifetimes,” Trump’s order states. “An equally large share of homeless individuals reported suffering from mental health conditions. Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.” 

The administration plans to challenge judicial precedents that impede involuntary commitment, and pledges grant funding and favorable treatment for municipalities and states that pursue such measures to crack down on loitering, “urban camping” and public drug use.

Advocates for unhoused people and drug users decried the order as inhumane and doomed to fail. 

“Let’s be clear: President Trump is not interested in helping people into housing they can afford, or mental health care they need,” Jawanza Williams, director of organizing for VOCAL-US, said in a statement. “He is only interested in getting people off the streets even if it means into a jail cell or detention center for the homeless. These actions are not just cruel, they’re ineffective, they waste tax dollars and will only worsen our nation’s homeless crisis.”

The spreading criminalization of homelessness will also see police increasingly inserted into situations that demand social workers and health care professionals.

“This executive order doubles down on failed strategies that treat homelessness and addiction as crimes instead of as complex public health challenges,” said Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.), executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. “Police are not the best tool for addressing housing insecurity, addiction, or untreated mental illness, and thrusting officers further onto the frontlines of these crises will only drive deeper instability, strain local resources, and leave communities less safe in the long run.”

“Ensuring Americans feel safe in their own cities and towns” is a stated aim of the executive order.

 “Safety for whom?” asked Guzman, of the prospect of large numbers of people in need being criminalized and forced into insitutions. “It’s sick. Housing not handcuffs.”

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