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

[ad_1] 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 folks will go, is unclear, sparking considerations amongst advocacy teams.

Whereas previewing an announcement concerning D.C., Trump informed these experiencing homelessness in a social media submit on Sunday, "We gives you locations to remain, however FAR from the Capital."

In his remarks the next day, Trump mentioned that the federal authorities can 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'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 mentioned throughout a press briefing on Monday whereas asserting plans for the federal authorities to take over the D.C. police division and deploy Nationwide Guard troops in D.C.

A basic view of a homeless encampment exterior the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., U.S., Aug. 11, 2025.

Ken Cedeno/Reuters

Dismantling homeless encampments shouldn't be 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 continual 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 might go, who would transport them, how that is funded, what meaning for his or her human and civil rights," White mentioned of Trump's current remarks.

Donald Whitehead Jr., govt director of the D.C.-based Nationwide Coalition for the Homeless, mentioned that although Trump talked about homelessness throughout Monday's press convention a number of occasions, there was "no concrete details about find out how to deal with the difficulty," resembling sources that may be developed to handle the difficulty in a non-punitive matter, or the place folks can be moved.

"Our query is, is that this the identical answer that we have seen with the immigration inhabitants? Are folks simply going to be moved to distant locations?" he mentioned.

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

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters within the James Brady Press Briefing Room on the White Home, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington.

Alex Brandon/AP

The 2 govt 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 informed reporters Monday that her workplace has not gotten any extra particulars from the White Home however can be following up with Legal professional Common Pam Bondi.

"We actually have not gotten any extra element concerning the plan, concerning the phrases that he mentioned," she mentioned 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 Common Bondi as a degree of contact because it pertains to homelessness and such, so we'll observe up together with her," Bowser continued.

A basic view of a homeless encampment close to the Kennedy Middle in Washington, D.C., Aug. 11, 2025.

Ken Cedeno/Reuters

On any given night time in D.C., there are 798 unhoused folks on the road, based on the Neighborhood Partnership, a nonprofit working to stop homelessness in D.C.

In March, Trump issued an govt 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 mentioned Monday.

Final month, Trump additionally signed an govt 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 applications 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 answer 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 begin the method of being housed, and sometimes disconnects them from their belongings and from the communities that they fashioned in encampments," White mentioned.

Individuals protest President Donald Trump's choice to federalize the DC police drive, in addition to to deploy 800 Nationwide Guard members, in Washington, August 11, 2025.

Jim Lo Scalzo/eEPA/Shutterstock

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

"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 mentioned. "They do not have a spot to go. There is not sufficient shelter. There definitely is not sufficient housing."

In line 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 yr, together with an 18.1% lower amongst households and a 4.5% lower amongst single people.

White mentioned Miriam's Kitchen is working to ensure that single adults experiencing continual 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 mentioned. "We're simply going to attempt to proceed to supply our companies as ordinary and put together to reply quickly as wanted."