As hundreds of National Guard troops arrived in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the city’s unhoused population will be given an ultimatum. Those who refuse to move into shelters, she said, will face fines or jail time.
Leavitt’s remarks
“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,” Leavitt said during a press conference. “If they refuse, they will be subjected to fines or jail time.”
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Leavitt said Metropolitan police and federal agents in Washington, D.C., will enforce the rules based on existing laws. The ultimatum is part of President Donald Trump’s effort to “make D.C. safe and beautiful.”
“That involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments,” she said.
However, neither the code nor the regulation she cited specifies how police must offer mental health or addiction treatment, as initially reported by the Washington Examiner.
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Just 37% of people experiencing homelessness reported habitual drug use, according to a UC San Francisco study of more than 3,200 adults.
Context and crime trends
The new enforcement comes amid Trump’s pledge to rid the city of what he calls a “totally out of control” crime problem. However, violent crime has hit a 30-year low in Washington D.C. in 2024, and other crimes are significantly down, according to the Department of Justice.
The District’s Department of Health and Human Services also reported that homelessness decreased overall by 9% last year.
Unhoused advocates raise concerns
Advocates for people experiencing homelessness have also expressed concerns with a lack of available shelters and Trump’s expressed desire on social media to move unhoused people “FAR” away from the city.
Some residents without housing worry about being forced from familiar areas.
“There are very few beds available [in D.C.],” Jessie Rabinowitz with National Homelessness Law Center told NPR. “There are a handful of shelter beds available in far-flung parts of the city. Often in parts of the city where people don’t want to be.”
“I prefer to sleep under the stars,” Dallas Bossert, 64, told NPR. “The problem with a lot of shelters is it’s a 30-day stay and then you have to move. You can’t really get nothing done.”
Still, he believes enforcement may target only “hardline troublemakers” downtown.
The executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, Donald Whitehead, told NPR he is concerned that much of Washington’s unhoused population will end up in similar circumstances to migrants without documentation currently find themselves in.
“There is a fear this may be similar to what’s happened to people rounded up due to their immigration status,” Whitehead said. “We’re very concerned that people could be removed involuntarily away from services. That could lead to a lot of very bad outcomes including death.”
Advocates also raised concerns about treatment for unhoused individuals, noting a lack of infrastructure for the problem, and say it doesn’t address the crux of the issue.
“The solution isn’t to punish unsheltered people by putting them in jail,” Anna Olivia, who manages the National Alliance to End Homelessness told NPR. “The solution should be to provide them access to safe and affordable housing.”
Trump administration’s efforts
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Monday that the U.S. Park Police have already removed more than 70 homeless encampments.
Still, there are as many as 798 people experiencing homelessness in Washington D.C. on any given night, as reported by the Community Partnership, a nonprofit organization which aims to solve the homelessness crisis.
More specific details of the plan have not been disclosed by the administration.
