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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at helping states and cities move homeless individuals off the streets and into rehabilitation centers by prioritizing federal grant funding for those efforts.
The order, titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” follows Trump’s pledge to clean up urban areas, including Washington, D.C., which he has called hubs for drug use and crime.
As part of the directive, Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to “reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees” that block states and cities from removing homeless individuals suffering from drug addiction and placing them into treatment facilities.
“Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe,” the order states. “The number of individuals living on the streets in the United States on a single night during the last year of the previous administration — 274,224 — was the highest ever recorded.”
“The overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both,” it continues. “The Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats.”
The order is part of Trump’s broader “Make America Safe Again” initiative, which also includes tighter immigration enforcement.
Trump directed Bondi to coordinate with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner to prioritize funding for cities and states that enforce bans on open drug use, urban camping, and loitering, while monitoring registered sex offenders.
While Trump did not specify the total amount of funding that will be available, he said moving homeless drug users into “humane” treatment centers would help “restore public order.”
The president previously spoke about restoring order in Washington, D.C., in March.
“We’re going to have a crime-free capital. When people come here, they’re not going to be mugged or shot or raped. They’re going to have a crime-free capital again. It’s going to be cleaner and better and safer than it ever was. And it’s not going to take us too long,” Trump stated.