“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday. At his press conference later, he added that “There are many places that they can go, and we’re going to help them as much as you can help. But they’ll not be allowed to turn our capital into a wasteland for the world to see.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavvit said Tuesday that the federalized D.C. police and federal agencies will dismantle all homeless encampments in the city under preexisting laws (which she said had not been enforced by the city prior to the takeover).
“Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services, and if they refuse they will susceptible to fines or jail time,” Leavitt told reporters. “We want to make D.C. safe and beautiful, and that involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments, as well.”
Asked if and how they intended to move D.C.’s homeless “far” away, Leavitt insisted that was still the plan, then indicated there wasn’t yet an actual plan: “We’re exploring how we could do that.” In the meantime, it sounds like the administration will send anyone who refuses help to jail.
WUSA9 reports that D.C. shelters don’t have enough beds for all of the city’s homeless, and advocates for them say Trump’s supposed plan will only make things worse:
Kirsten Quinsland, Chief Program Officer at Miriam’s Kitchen, said both staff and unhoused residents are anxious. “We’re seeing uncertainty and stress — staff wondering how to help with the little information we have, and folks in encampments wondering, ‘Am I going to be cleared out tonight? Can I go to sleep feeling safe? Where should I go?’” Quinsland said.
An estimated 5,600 people are unhoused in the District, according to local data. Only about 3,200 emergency shelter beds are available. Trump has said federal agents are already clearing sites and will continue to do so.
Quinsland said the removals make it harder for outreach workers to find and assist people. “Moving people from place to place at random is not helpful, it’s not the solution,” she said. “It’s isolating them from their outreach workers, who are building those relationships, and once people move it’s hard to find them again,” she said
ABC News also notes that homelessness in D.C. is down from last year:
According to D.C.’s most recent census of people experiencing homelessness, released in May, there was an overall 9% decrease in homelessness in 2025 from the previous year, including an 18.1% decrease among families and a 4.5% decrease among single individuals.
Another advocate explains to Axios that the Trump administration already wants to gut aid for the permanent supportive housing:
Elizabeth Bowen, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work who researches homelessness, said clearing encampments is not an effective way to resolve homelessness.
“It’s not a solution at all to ending homelessness,” Bowen said. “The solution is getting people into long term, permanent, affordable, independent, supportive housing.” But the Trump administration has proposed gutting aid for permanent supportive housing, which Bowen describes as an actual “sustainable solution to homelessness.”
She also emphasized that shelters, which only have so many beds and staff members, are not a long-term solution.
Added Donald Whitehead, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless:
If we’re going to solve this, what we have to do is address homelessness and not put the blame on people experiencing homelessness. …
This is a stunt. And unfortunately, people experiencing homelessness are being used as props.
