Forced confinement for homeless people.

As massive staff cuts are expected to affect the agency that oversees homelessness spending and Housing First initiatives, President Trump is announcing he will remove homeless people from the streets by forcibly relocating them to encampments and placing the mentally ill in mental institutions or face arrest.

Paula Andalo, KFF Health News’ Ethnic Media Editor, explains that the administration of Republican Donald Trump wants to end this situation in a more extreme way.

“President Donald Trump is going to push for a radical and completely different approach than the current one to end the problem of people living on the streets. Trump said all homeless people will be relocated to large encampments where they will receive mandatory mental health and addiction treatment. He didn’t say where these encampments will be held or go into many details, but he did emphasize that if a person refuses to go, they can be fined and arrested.”

Paula Andalo, Ethnic Media Editor for KFF Health News, recalls that the problem of homelessness in the US was addressed through a housing-related policy.

“This is an aggressive change in the main national policy against homelessness, which for decades prioritized access to housing as the most effective way to combat this crisis.”

But what is the situation of the homeless? Let’s listen to Paula Andalo, Ethnic Media Editor for KFF Health News.

“Official figures reveal that there are 770,000 people in the country living in shelters, especially in large cities, 187,000 of them living in California.”

Paula Andalo says that this measure, which Donald Trump wants to implement, had already been announced before he took office.

“During his campaign, he also said that those with serious mental illness should be placed in psychiatric institutions, where they should be treated with the goal of reintegrating them into society once they recover and are able to control themselves.”

Trump has targeted the Housing First program, the main program that coordinates cities’ access to federal funding for this fight.”
In fact, Paula Andalo, Ethnic Media Editor for KFF Health News, says that cuts have already been proposed.

“Scott Turner, who heads the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency responsible for all these logistics, has proposed massive cuts in funding and personnel, the same thing is happening with other federal agencies.

Nearly $4 billion was allocated last year alone for homeless services.”

But what would be the consequences of a change in this policy, as Paula Andalo explains.

“Officials who have been working with those living on the streets for years say this sudden policy could separate homeless people from their managers and social service providers, disrupting their path to housing.”

Paula Andalo, Ethnic Media Editor for KFF Health News, explains what the current Housing First policy refers to.

“Housing First” was implemented nationally in 2004 under the Republican George Bush administration to combat chronic homelessness, defined as long-term homelessness with a disability. The program was expanded under the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

This strategy seeks to stabilize homeless people in permanent housing and provide them with support and social services without forcing treatment or imposing work requirements. Once housed, these people, in theory, escape the classroom and can then begin searching for employment, caring for their chronic illnesses, or achieving sobriety.”

Finally, Paula Andalo, Ethnic Media Editor for KFF Health News, comments that this issue is not currently controversial, but experts assure that radical or punitive measures do not always work.

“The housing crisis is one of those problems that both liberals and conservatives want to get rid of, and Trump’s wouldn’t be the first dramatic measures.

The Los Angeles mayor’s office, for example, has long advocated for the eviction of encampments. There are many voices for and against many possible actions.

Those that punish, experts say, are never the ones that work best in the long term. They assert that it’s really about providing stable housing and access to medical care, mental health care, and addiction treatment, and supporting people to make a 360° turnaround in their lives.”

Some experts assert that the Housing First program has worked for those who have found housing; however, the number of people left out of the program is still significant, and they lament that the resources have not been sufficient to provide adequate housing.