President Donald Trump on July 24 issued an executive order aimed at significantly re-ordering the federal government's approach to people who don't have housing.
That order — which seeks to end the government's funding of so-called "housing first" initiatives and suggests mandatory mental health and addiction treatment, or "civil commitment" for some — has drawn applause from some conservatives and rebuke from advocates for people experiencing homelessness.
The order, officially titled "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets," comes in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that upheld municipalities' rights to criminalize encampments in public places.
But what could Trump's executive order mean locally? Professionals who work to aid people without homes in Greater Cincinnati say they're still trying to piece together the impact it could have.
What 'housing first' does
Strategies to End Homelessness President Kevin Finn says the order doesn't have a lot of details. His organization is waiting for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Notice of Funding Opportunities process, which will kick off in the coming weeks, for more information about how the rubber will meet the road when it comes to the Trump administration's priorities. But he says there are concerning signs.
One is the suggestion the federal government is moving away from "housing first" models for addressing homelessness. Under that approach, the goal is to get a person experiencing homelessness into housing before guiding them into any needed treatment for addiction or mental health.
"What the housing first model says is that it's much easier for people to keep medical appointments every day and go to work and things like that if they're in an apartment rather than on the street or in a shelter," Finn says.
Covington-based Welcome House serves 40 counties in Kentucky. Interim CEO Amanda Couch says some of the moves away from housing first is a big concern.
"There's evidence-based data that it works," she says. Both Couch and Finn pointed to data showing the number of people experiencing homelessness locally has generally dropped since the methods were first introduced locally about a decade ago. And 11% of the people who were able to leave homelessness through Welcome House programs returned to the streets or shelters.
What the Trump administration suggests
The Trump administration has suggested a different approach, however — one that includes the controversial possibility of forcing people without homes to undergo mental health or addiction treatment.
Trump and other officials have cited concerns about public safety and recent controversy around encampments of people without homes in urban areas like San Francisco and smaller towns like Grants Pass, Oregon, as reasons for the shift. The latter was at the center of the Supreme Court case upholding bans on encampments.
"Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order," Trump's order reads. "Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety."
But Finn takes issue with the idea that people without housing are dangerous. And he says America spent decades involuntarily committing people in the 20th century before shifting away from that practice. Other measures — including increasing the availability of housing affordable to lower-income people — are needed.
"That's going 180 degrees in the wrong direction," he says. "The issues around homelessness and criminality are issues in reality of people experiencing homelessness being attacked by non-homeless people. It's not an issue of people who are homeless committing crimes."
Both Couch and Finn said the systems that exist on the federal level have long had flaws under both Republican and Democratic administrations. But they're worried the tone taken by the Trump administration could hinder efforts to help people without housing instead of making the situation better.
Couch said Welcome House is already seeing greater levels of fear from people without housing in Kentucky as they worry about being arrested or committed.
"While parts of the executive order might align with certain priorities, other aspects are concerning in terms of how they could affect trust and service deliver in the community," she said.
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