National Alliance to End Homelessness Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order on Washington, D.C.

March 31, 2025, Washington, D.C. — The National Alliance to End Homelessness condemns the Trump Administration’s Executive Order, Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful, which, among other things, instructs the U.S. Department of the Interior to rapidly dismantle homeless encampments on federal land in Washington, D.C. that are subject to the National Park Service’s jurisdiction.

Alliance leaders emphasized that the federal government plays a critical role in advancing sound, evidence-based strategies to support homelessness response in communities across the country. However, this move is yet another in a string of recent developments — including purported staff cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, unexpected interruptions to federal grants that local providers rely on, and proposals to eliminate fair housing and equal access to shelter services — that illustrates a striking retreat from its role. The Alliance urged the Trump Administration to focus its efforts not on political optics, but on outcomes and more importantly, the lives of those who will be most impacted by these actions.

“The solution to homelessness is housing, paired with the supportive services that people want and are tailored to their needs,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “The President has a historic opportunity to demand Congress makes the decades-overdue investments in affordable housing and homeless services that communities — both red and blue — are desperate for. We implore President Trump and elected officials everywhere to resist oversimplified and ineffective strongarm tactics, and instead focus on the long-term, sustainable solutions that will truly make communities ‘safe and beautiful’ — for everyone.”

The order also comes as an increasing number of communities embrace carceral approaches to unsheltered homelessness, despite a wealth of evidence that this approach does not end people’s homelessness.

“Unsheltered homelessness is a complex crisis in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. It never has, and never will be, solved with overly simplified approaches like encampment evictions,” said Oliva. “The evidence is very clear that evictions of this nature make matters worse: by saddling people with arrests that make it harder to connect to housing and employment; by separating them from case managers who are working to rehouse them; and by discarding vital medicines, paperwork, and identification. This Executive Order is not a strategy for helping people get housed; it’s a tactic for hiding homelessness.”

As communities continue their long-term work of addressing the affordable housing crisis and remedying the gaps caused by a threadbare social safety net, the Alliance encourages them to consult its recent guidance on interim strategies for addressing unsheltered homelessness. This guidance is intended to maintain a focus on permanent housing, ground all interim strategies in evidence-based strategies, and avoid approaches that are coercive towards people experiencing homelessness.

About the National Alliance to End Homelessness

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. As a leading voice on the issue of homelessness, the Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective solutions; works collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity; and provides data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nationwide.