A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump is drawing criticism from legal experts and local advocates, who say the policy could violate constitutional protections while doing little to address the root causes of homelessness.
The order frames rising homelessness and what it calls “endemic vagrancy” as a public safety crisis, and encourages states to expand civil commitment — a court process that allows individuals with serious mental illness to be institutionalized, with or without their consent.
Under the new policy, this could also apply to unhoused individuals, regardless of a formal mental health diagnosis.
In the order, federal agencies are directed to assist states in moving people into long-term treatment facilities, even involuntarily, if they are living on the street, are deemed unable to care for themselves or considered a danger to others.
It also calls for withholding federal funding from cities that don’t enforce bans on loitering, squatting, and public drug use, and proposes defunding programs like “safe consumption” sites and housing-first shelters that do not require sobriety or treatment. The order criticizes housing-first models as ineffective and unsafe.
But Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, says parts of the order raise serious constitutional concerns.
“The president can’t set conditions on federal funds. Only Congress can do that,” Chemerinsky said. “The federal government can’t force states to administer a federal mandate. That violates the Constitution.”
Chemerinsky also warned that involuntary institutionalization requires legal safeguards, including proof that someone poses a danger to themselves or others.
“Without providing due process and without showing that they're a threat to themselves or to others, the government can't do that,” he added. “Being homeless can't be made a crime in and of itself.”
Local advocates also expressed concern. Devon McQuade, Associate Director of the 5Cities Homeless Coalition on California’s Central Coast, said the order overlooks what she believes is the true driver of homelessness: the lack of affordable housing.
“Even if this does become a requirement and people need to go into treatment facilities or institutionalization, where do they go after that,” McQuade said. “We still haven't addressed affordable housing pretty much anywhere in the nation and if we want people to not be homeless, we need to offer housing options that they can afford.”
Supporters of the order argue it’s a necessary crackdown on unsafe street conditions and a reversal of failed policies that have left cities overwhelmed with homelessness.
The executive order directs multiple federal agencies to begin revising funding standards and coordinating with state governments to implement the changes.
