The Trump administration recently issued a sweeping executive order on homelessness that dismantles support for the “housing first” model. The order pushes communities back toward punitive approaches, tying housing to mandatory treatment or abstinence, expanding involuntary institutionalization and even encouraging the criminalization of homelessness. It also shifts federal priorities away from harm reduction and proven, evidence-based models.
As both a direct service provider and policy advocate, I know firsthand the devastating consequences this will have on individuals, families and communities. For many of those with low incomes, at risk of homelessness and/or homeless clients, housing is not an abstract debate. It is life or death.
Susan, 65, (not her real name) one of my previous clients, was experiencing homelessness while battling severe mental health challenges and substance abuse that stemmed from not being housed.
For years, she cycled between emergency rooms and living on the streets, never able to stabilize long enough to engage in treatment. It took a full year before we were able to house her, but once she finally had a home, everything began to change.
With a safe place to call her own, she could access case managers, housing specialists and in-house supportive services, begin therapy, maintain her medications and rebuild trust with her care team. Housing was not the end of her journey, but it was the turning point that made true healing possible.
“Housing is not an abstract debate. It is life or death.”
On any given night, more than 600,000 people in the U.S. are experiencing homelessness. Nearly one in four lives with a serious mental illness, and almost half struggle with concurrent substance use disorders.
For many women and families, homelessness stems from domestic violence, forcing survivors to choose between enduring abuse or sleeping on the streets. And 57% of all homeless women say domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness.
Even more troubling is that 80% of unhoused women with children say they have experienced domestic violence. For young people, ages 12 to 25, unstable housing dramatically increases their risk of exploitation. Research shows 64% of human trafficking survivors report experiencing homelessness or unstable housing before being trafficked. That is one in five youth, which equates to 800,000 youth trafficked every year.
The housing first model is not just shelter; it is protection from violence, exploitation and hopelessness. It is the foundation that makes every other intervention possible. Yet experts and policymakers continue to debate whether people must first “get clean,” “comply with treatment” or “prove themselves” before they deserve a home.
This logic is not only cruel, it is ineffective. Asking someone to recover without a roof over their heads is like asking a type 1 diabetic to heal without insulin. It is inhumane.
That is why the housing first model has been so transformative. By providing housing without preconditions, and then wraparound services around that stability, it creates the conditions for real change. The evidence is overwhelming: Housing first programs report 80% to 90% housing retention rates, compared to less than 50% in traditional models.
Critics often argue that housing is too expensive. But the opposite is true.
“This logic is not only cruel, it is ineffective.”
A single chronically homeless person can cost the public $30,000 to $50,000 per year in emergency services, hospitalizations and jail time. Providing supportive housing costs $8,486 to $20,115 per year. A recent Denver study found participants had a 40% reduction in arrests and 40% decrease in emergency room visits.
Housing first doesn’t just save lives, it also saves money.
The new executive order ignores this evidence and sets the country back decades on this issue. It replaces proven solutions with coercion and criminalization.
As an advocate for these communities, I see every day what this crisis looks like on the ground. Survivors of domestic violence are forced back to abusive partners because safe housing is unavailable. Young people are targeted and preyed upon by traffickers because they have no roof over their heads. People with untreated mental illness are pushed into jails instead of homes.
These are not theoretical risks, they are daily realities for clients like Susan. The choice is clear: Invest in punishment and displacement of people or invest in their stability, dignity and possibility.
Susan’s story shows what happens when policies choose people first. One key opened more than a door; it opened safety, healing and hope. Every client deserves that chance.
If policymakers, advocates and supporters are serious about ending homelessness, supporting survivors of violence and preventing trafficking, they must challenge and reject punitive executive orders and double down on what works based on facts. Housing first is evidence-based strategy. Without it, every other solution will remain out of reach for far too many.
Asha Wasuge is a professional advocate for the unhoused population and a Public Voices Fellow in domestic violence and economic security with the OpEd Project.
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