Advocates fear Trump’s crackdown in D.C. will put many homeless people behind bars

WASHINGTON — As hundreds of National Guard troops deployed on Tuesday in the nation’s capital, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said homeless people in Washington, D.C., who refuse to move into shelters will face prosecution or fines.

“Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services,” Leavitt said during a press briefing, when asked by NPR about the expanding crackdown. “If they refuse, they will be subjected to fines or jail time.”

According to Leavitt, Metropolitan police and federal law enforcement agents in Washington will strictly enforce existing laws that force homeless people off the city’s streets as part of an effort to “make DC safe and beautiful.”

“That involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments as well,” Leavitt said.

The get-tough policy toward people living without permanent housing is part of President Trump’s wider push to end what he has described as rampant crime and disorder. In fact, violent crime reached a 30-year low in the city last year and other forms of criminal activity are also down sharply, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Trump has disputed those figures and speaking during a press conference on Monday, he said “drugged-out maniacs and homeless people” have contributed to a sharp decline in the city’s quality of life.

Posting on his social media platform, Trump also suggested homeless people will be forced out of Washington entirely: “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” Trump wrote.

That rhetoric has drawn sharp criticism from housing advocates and experts who say Trump’s stepped-up law enforcement campaign won’t solve the growing crisis of homelessness.

“There are very few beds available [in Washington],” said Jessie Rabinowitz with National Homelessness Law Center. “There are a handful of shelter beds available in far-flung parts of the city. Often in parts of the city where people don’t want to be.”

“I’m pretty well a quiet person.”

Many people living on the streets or in tent camps around the city voiced confusion and anger at the federal push to remove them from the community.

“I prefer to sleep under the stars,” said Dallas Bossert, age 64. “The problem with a lot of your shelters is it’s a 30-day stay and then you have to move. You can’t really get nothing done.”

Bossert said he hoped police and federal agents would leave him alone: “I think what the government is trying to do is get the hardline troublemakers out of the downtown area. I’m pretty well a quiet person.”

But Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said he feared many of the city’s homeless residents will wind up displaced and incarcerated.

He noted Trump has compared his campaign against disorder in Washington to the escalating effort to detain migrants without legal status.

“There is a fear this may be similar to what’s happened to people rounded up due to their immigration status,” Whitehead said, pointing to detention camps that have sprung up around the country.

“We’re very concerned that people could be removed involuntarily away from services. That could lead to a lot of very bad outcomes including death.”

More pressure, fewer services

Experts also voiced concern about efforts to pressure people living with addiction into treatment at a time when there aren’t enough recovery facilities capable of treating the complex health issues that stem from use of fentanyl, methamphetamines and other toxic street drugs.

“[Addiction] is a chronic illness. It’s not the kind of thing where you sweep them up, you get them better and then they’re cured and that’s it,” said Dr. Stephen Taylor, head of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

According to Taylor, Trump’s rhetoric about homeless people experiencing addiction dehumanizes Americans struggling with serious illness.

“It’s quite frankly painful. People who experience addiction are us, our friends, our neighbors our family-members, our children,” Taylor said. “They’re people who happen to have an illness that can be devastating.”

In recent months, the Trump administration has slashed funding for addiction research and treatment grants, while also sharply reducing Medicaid insurance spending that many people with substance use disorder rely upon.

The White House has also proposed deep cuts to rental assistance for low-income families at a time when housing costs have soared for many Americans.

“They’re cutting the housing for people,” said Constances Harrison, age 52, who lives in a homeless encampment near the Lincoln Memorial. “I wish they would stop treating homeless people like we’re dogs and like we’re all addicts.”

According to Leavitt, roughly 70 homeless camps in Washington have already been broken up since March by federal authorities.

Trump made it plain this week he wants similar aggressive action against people living on the streets in other cities. Some advocates said they believe a national effort to punish and incarcerate people without housing is already underway.

“We’ve already started to see that taking hold in communities that criminalize people just because they don’t have a safe place to sleep,” said Ann Oliva who heads the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Oliva and others interviewed by NPR said Trump is tapping into real frustration among Americans that the number of people living on the streets and in tent camps keeps growing.

“The solution isn’t to punish unsheltered people by putting them in jail,” Oliva said. “The solution should be to provide them access to safe and affordable housing and the services they need to maintain that housing.”

NPR’s Maansi Srivastava contributed to this report.