By Vanguard Staff
The Executive Order issued this week by President Trump targeting unhoused individuals is drawing strong criticism from legal and public health advocates, who say the directive marks a dangerous return to failed and punitive policies.
The Order promotes civil commitment, rebrands institutionalization as a matter of public safety, and threatens to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that do not embrace involuntary treatment or prioritize the removal of unhoused people from public spaces. It also requires participants in housing programs to comply with mental health or substance use disorder treatment, and calls for increased data-sharing between HUD-funded services and law enforcement.
Critics say the Order frames people experiencing homelessness, as well as those with substance use disorders or mental health conditions, as inherently dangerous—a narrative they argue is not only false but also discriminatory.
“This Order promotes the illusion of safety by criminalizing people for being visibly unhoused rather than addressing root causes like the dearth of affordable housing and accessible substance use disorder and mental health care,” said Paul N. Samuels, Director and President of the Legal Action Center (LAC). “The approach outlined echoes decades of failed ‘tough on crime’ strategies that have harmed already marginalized communities, especially Black and brown, and wasted huge amounts of money without making anyone safer.”
Gabrielle de la Guéronnière, LAC’s Vice President of Health and Justice Policy, said, “Many people living in public spaces do so because of systemic failures such as skyrocketing rents and stagnant wages, counterproductive legal and policy barriers facing people with arrest/conviction records, inadequate reentry supports, and fractured community health systems. Rather than returning to one of our country’s most shameful periods of disappearing people from sight and forcing them into large, abusive institutions—which is deeply dehumanizing, fiscally irresponsible, and will only entrench cycles of surveillance and control, particularly for Black and brown people—we should be breaking down the racist structural barriers that trap people in poverty and investing in equitable systems of care and support.”
A key provision in the Order requires that participation in mental health or SUD treatment be a condition of accessing HUD-funded housing assistance. It also mandates that HUD programs collect and share sensitive health information with law enforcement.
“Forcing people into treatment and then using their sensitive health records to surveil and punish is wrong—legally, ethically, and from a public health perspective,” said Jacqueline Seitz, LAC’s Deputy Director of Health Privacy.
The Order also imposes new conditions on people exiting the criminal legal system, requiring them to follow housing release plans without addressing the widespread discrimination and legal barriers that people with criminal records face in securing housing or employment.
“Paired with steep funding cuts to the very systems people rely on, including community mental health and SUD providers, Medicaid, and affordable housing programs, this Order is especially reckless and cruel. The Administration should be investing in comprehensive community-based treatment and recovery services to ensure they are accessible and available to those who need them, but instead they are doing the exact opposite,” said Deborah Steinberg, LAC Senior Health Policy Attorney.
“If this administration truly seeks to reduce overdose deaths and improve community safety, it must embrace and sustainably fund what public health experts and advocates say works: harm reduction programs, overdose prevention centers, and widespread access to voluntary, non-coercive treatment and care. These programs save lives. Likewise, the housing first approach has repeatedly proven to reduce homelessness, improve health outcomes, and strengthen communities,” said Deborah Reid, LAC Senior Health Policy Attorney.
The Legal Action Center stated it remains committed to challenging the discrimination embedded in the Order and defending services that protect the civil rights, dignity, and autonomy of impacted communities. Advocates warn that without such a commitment, the Administration risks setting a dangerous precedent that will exacerbate harm, deepen racial and economic inequality, and undermine any serious effort to build safer, healthier communities.
