Expulsion is no solution to the US homelessness crisis

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to remove homeless people from the nation’s capital as part of what he described as plans to make the city “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.”

He also stressed the need to clear Washington’s homeless encampments, yet offered no plan for where the thousands of displaced people would go.

Washington is ranked 15th on a list of major US cities by homeless population. According to the Community Partnership, an organization working to reduce homelessness in Washington D.C., on any given night there are 3,782 single persons experiencing homelessness in the city of about 700,000 people. Most are in emergency shelters or transitional housing, but about 800 are considered to be "on the street".

Nationwide, the crisis is even more staggering. A January 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted an estimated 771,480 people were homeless in the US on a single night -- the highest figure since national counts began. Of those, more than one-third were unsheltered, meaning they lived on streets, in vehicles, or in tents.

Experts point to a combination of systemic factors driving the US homelessness crisis: skyrocketing housing costs, a shortage of affordable units, stagnant wages, and inadequate mental health infrastructure. Many also note decades of underinvestment in social safety nets, as well as the closure of psychiatric institutions without sufficient community-based alternatives.

Given these root causes, forcibly displacing homeless individuals does nothing to solve the crisis; it merely pushes vulnerable people further into desperation. A more dignified, evidence-based approach—one that addresses the underlying drivers of homelessness—remains the only proven solution.