The Homelessness Crisis Under Trump Will Only Get Worse The Trump administration is counting on us to renounce those living on the streets, while struggling with their mental health or the cost of housing (or both). The federal takeover of Washington, DC, rightfully attracted extensive media coverage, but an executive order called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” quietly issued on July 24, received remarkably little attention. What followed was the administration’s solution: “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings…will restore public order.” Precisely which institutions was unclear. The president’s executive order fuses drug use and homelessness into a single issue without revealing that homelessness can cause or exacerbate substance use disorder—because people use drugs to cope with privation. Here’s a thought, though: If you don’t want to acquiesce to the president’s way of doing things, might it not finally be time to make eye contact with those neighbors of ours who are homeless?