We Can’t Arrest Our Way Out of Homelessness

Punishing people for being poor doesn’t make them less poor. And jailing someone who’s homeless doesn’t make them housed. But that’s exactly what President Trump’s new executive order does: it makes criminals out of people trying to survive our nation’s housing crisis.

Only affordable housing and accessible healthcare will get people off the streets so they can live a stable life. Instead, Trump’s order calls for local and state governments to ticket and arrest people for living on our streets.

These policies waste taxpayer dollars just to make our homelessness crisis worse. If you need a preview of how Trump’s disastrous order will play out, just look at my home state of Kentucky.

In April 2024, the Kentucky legislature passed HB 5 — the bill that paved the way for Kentucky to ticket and arrest people trying to survive outside. These laws, labeled “camping bans,” are popping up across the country. They’re rooted in the myth that people choose to be homeless — and the only way to help is through jail or involuntary commitment.

Not only is this cruel and inhumane. It also doesn’t work.

In Louisville earlier this year, a pregnant woman in active labor was ticketed by police because she had no choice but to sleep outside. Law enforcement did not offer her help,

Fortunately, she was able to deliver a healthy baby. But she’s still housing insecure — and now burdened with a citation too. Her story proves that making criminals out of people who have nowhere to go doesn’t reduce suffering — it makes it worse.

So it’s not surprising that even with this new law in place, there was still an over 10 percent rise in homelessness in Kentucky just last year. Similarly, national rates continue to increase even as more cities and states pass “camping bans.”

I’m the director at VOCAL-KY, a movement of low-income people. I’ve gotten to know the folks living in Louisville’s shelters and on the streets. It’s not hard for me to relate. When I lost my housing, my family and I lived out of my car until we could get back on our feet.

We work day in and day out to support our neighbors who live outside by providing a safe space and connection to services. And the pregnant woman, Samantha, who was cited while in active labor, is now a part of our drop-in center community.

This is what compassion looks like — not citations that put struggling people further in debt or behind bars.

People living on our streets and in our shelters want services and housing, but there isn’t enough to go around. With this executive order, the Trump administration is diverting even more money toward arresting and jailing people — and away from the housing and care that urban, rural, and suburban America all need.

Instead of distractions and dictatorial decrees rooted in stereotypes and stigma, we need real leadership on real solutions to homelessness, like higher wages and rents people can afford. The reality is most Americans are closer to becoming homeless than becoming billionaires.

But instead of investing in solutions, Trump and the GOP gave massive tax breaks to the ultra rich — including to some of the same people and companies who make billions off driving up rents — while cutting programs for low-income people. In all likelihood, next year we’ll see another record number of Americans in homelessness.

We need federal lawmakers to sign onto the Housing, Not Handcuffs Act and invest in communities by directing federal funds to support local solutions that address the root causes of homelessness, not just force people into jail or detention centers dressed up as treatment.

Trump’s plan to arrest our way out of homelessness won’t work, because it’s never worked. Only housing, care, and services will help people get back on their feet, and we need our policies and politicians to act on those solutions now more than ever.

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