Social Services

Ban urban camping and arrest violators

President Trump did not need to do much on this promise since the U.S. Supreme Court’sCity of Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling of June 2024 allowed localities to ban outdoor camping even if there is no homeless shelter space available.  Roughly 150 cities in 32 states have passed or strengthened such ordinances.  Another 40 local bans on outdoor camping are pending, according to data by the National Homelessness Law Center. The measures vary in detail, but they typically include prohibitions on camping, sleeping, or storing property on public land. Many also include buffer zones near schools, parks or businesses.

Bans often allow for steep fines and jail time. In Indio, California, for example, people caught camping illegally could face a penalty of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. The ordinance in Fresno, California, bans sitting, lying, sleeping, or camping on public property anytime, anywhere, with a penalty of up to a year in jail. Elmira, New York, includes sleeping in vehicles in its camping ban.

Create “tent cities” where the homeless can be moved

President Trump campaigned on a promise to create large, federally supported “tent cities” for people experiencing homelessness on inexpensive land, staffed with doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehabilitation experts.  Instead, Trump has made significant shifts in federal homelessness policy, but his administration has so far not moved on a “tent city” program with accompanying services.  The administration’s most consequential actions on homelessness to date involve proposed changes to homelessness funding, an executive order emphasizing enforcement, and efforts to restructure or eliminate federal homelessness coordination agencies.

End veteran homelessness

A Veterans Affairs Department census in January 2023 found more than 35,000 veterans experiencing homelessness, up 7.4% compared to 2022, but down by more than half since 2010.  “The American veteran is one of our greats,” Trump declared. “These are great, great people. We have to take care of them.”

President Trump sketched out a highly ambitious agenda to end veteran homelessness in America. His plan solidified in May 2025 via an executive order in which Trump pledged to swiftly build a sprawling housing and social serves complex at the West Los Angles VA complex, a 388-acre campus originally deeded to house veterans that has since been scarred by systematic neglect, slow redevelopment, and a long trail of broken promises.

Trump’s bold rhetoric does not match his policy actions and legislative reversals. These include cuts by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that caused many veterans to lose their jobs, and the One Big Beautiful Act’s work requirements for people (including veterans) participating in programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which can complicate their efforts to stay housed.

A clear example of the administration’s policy reversal involves the fittingly titled End Veteran Homelessness Act, which was first introduced in June 2024, during the Biden presidency. The legislation proposed to dispense with eligibility hurdles in the HUD-VASH program, an interagency rental assistance initiative that would provide housing vouchers to homeless veterans.

Various housing-related VA contracts have been axed as part of Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE initiatives. Among other things, VA cancelled a contract used to ensure housing for formerly homeless veterans meet all relevant safety standards, including lead-based paint.

Conclusions

President Trump made some great promises to improve the situation of the homeless, in particular homeless veterans.  The ban on urban camping was already being considered when he took office.  The plan to create “tent cities” was replaced with a better plan.  However, the new plan requires changes to HUD programs.  These changes seem to conflict with his veteran housing initiatives.  The HUD-VASH program was cut during the DOGE phase in controlling government spending.