Breaking: Trump begins federal takeover of DC, orders forced displacement of unhoused people
My name is Jesse Rabinowitz, I am a DC resident, and I am the campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center, where I run The Housing not Handcuffs Campaign, a nationwide movement to fight the growth of laws that make it a crime to be homeless. Before joining the Law Center, I worked for nearly a decade in DC to solve homelessness.
Just hours ago, Trump federalized the national guard and D.C. police and reiterated his plan to remove homeless people living in D.C. Click here to read our statement on the anti-homeless order and watch this morning’s Save D.C. rally here. Trump has stated himself that this authoritarian takeover is starting in D.C. but will expand to the whole country.
This moment is not surprising. Trump has talked for years about his inhumane and illegal desire to round up homeless folks and force them into government-run detention camps. He has reversed course on real solutions to homelessness and proposed a budget that would gut funding for housing and support. His recent order paved the way to lock up people for being poor, sick, or disabled, and he continually aligns himself with far-right billionaires who are pushing anti-homeless laws around the country.
When a fascist tells you who they are: believe them.
Locking up or removing people you don’t like or don’t want to see is textbook authoritarianism. Trump is testing public opinion by focusing on groups that he believes have little public sympathy, like folks who live outside. Right now, they are coming for homeless folks, trans folks, and migrants, but rest assured, soon, they will come for everybody who is not a white, straight, wealthy, Christian man. The only solution is solidarity and collective action.
Folks not in DC might not be aware, but, unlike in other cities, the federal government controls most of DC’s parks and green spaces. For this reason, the homeless folks living in these parks will be among the first hurt by Trump’s backwards and dangerous anti-homeless approach. But what starts in DC will spread to the rest of the country. Trump is using DC as his sandbox- which will have deadly and disastrous impacts on the real people who live here.
This issue is personal to me. I used to do homeless street outreach in the very parks Trump is targeting. People lived in these parks not because they wanted to, but because housing is too expensive and because the shelters are either full or downright inhospitable. These folks, like most homeless people in DC, are DC natives or have deep ties to the District. They are doing the best they can to survive in a city and in a country whose politicians would rather see them removed than helped. But in these encampments, I saw the best in people. Folks struggling to get by built community, supported each other, and watched out for each other. If only politicians did the same for them. And I had a few clients get matched to housing they could afford and supports they wanted. And these folks thrived. They got their lives back on track, they got healthy, and they didn’t live outside anymore. That is what everybody needs- housing with support. It works, there just isn’t nearly enough of it go around.
But instead of increasing funding for housing, Trump and his MAGA cronies are working to gut funding for vital housing programs. If Trump actually wanted to solve homelessness, he would fund proven, data-backed, cost-effective, ethical solution to homelessness: housing and voluntary supports. But he isn’t actually interested in helping people; he would rather demonize homeless DC residents to score cheap political points and stoke division.
We have to be honest: Trump is a white supremacist. His targeting of homeless folks, who, in DC, are over 85% black, is intentional. He traffics in racist lies and stereotypes to peddle policies that will disproportionately harm Black and brown folks. He wants to divide us, to stop our solidarity. We cannot let him.
Let’s be real: Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies are so out of touch that they actually think homelessness is a personal choice. They don’t get that more and more people are struggling to pay rent, and that when rent goes up, so does homelessness. We know that for every $100 increase in rent, homelessness goes up by 9%
Despite Trump’s fearmongering and scapegoating – which he uses to distract from his own failures – the truth remains the same: the leading cause of homelessness is rents that are too high and wages that are too low. The true solution to homelessness is getting people the affordable housing and support they want and need.
There are two paths before us. Trump’s path makes housing more expensive, makes more people homeless, and then locks people up for living in a country with no affordable housing. This path makes us all sicker and less safe. Or we can walk the path of justice. We can ensure that everybody has their basic needs, like housing and healthcare, met. We can lower rents for everybody, and we can ensure that nobody lives outside anymore. This path builds safer, healthier, and more just communities. I know that DC wants to take the path of justice.
TAKE ACTION
The Housing Not Handcuffs Act has been introduced to Congress to stem the tide of federal arrests and ticketing of our unhoused neighbors. Use your voice to demand Congress invests in true solutions to homelessness: housing, not handcuffs.
In addition to staying tuned into the Law Center’s work, please check out and support these organizations doing incredible work on the ground in D.C.:
