America New Chapter for Homeless
Trump makes a pivotal policy shift that will bring structure, recovery, and hope.
BY MICHELE STEEB today marks the begin- ning of the end of Housing First as the federal govern- ment’s one-size-fits-all —
and failed — approach to homeless- ness.”
With those words President
Donald J. Trump signed an executive order in July titled, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” marking a pivotal shift in federal homelessness policy. Following a decade of failure
under Housing First, our nation’s blanket approach to homelessness, the president’s move is a long-overdue course-correction rooted in hope, healing, and human dignity. In 2010, President Barack Obama
pledged to end homelessness within 10 years by embracing Housing First, a model that promised stability through lifelong, subsidized housing with no requirement to address underlying challenges like addiction, mental illness, or trauma. The theory: Housing would become
the springboard for recovery. The reality: Since Housing First was institutionalized, homelessness
has surged by 34%, reaching 274,224 people living unsheltered on a single night in 2024 — the highest number ever recorded. Housing First’s fatal flaw is its
denial of the complexities that drive homelessness, and its stipulation that no treatment can be required as a condition of housing assistance. During my 13-year tenure as CEO of
Northern California’s largest program for homeless women and children, nearly all clients lacked a positive support network. A documented 77% of them
struggled with addiction and 60% with mental illness. In the broader homeless population, 78% of the chronically homeless struggle with these issues. Handing someone keys without
Handing someone keys without addressing addiction, trauma, or broken support systems is pure negligence.
omedian Bill Maher says he was wrong when he
predicted President Donald Trump’s tariffs would destroy the U.S. economy by July. Although many
MAHER
economists also predicted that tariffs would cause higher inflation and other negative effects, recent economic indicators have shown strength. “I remember I, along with
addressing addiction, trauma, or broken support systems is pure negligence. Trump’s executive order prioritizes
public safety and personal recovery by shifting federal resources toward residential and transitional programs that confront the root causes of homelessness: addiction, mental illness, and lack of structure. It prioritizes funding to states and cities that enforce prohibitions on open-air drug use, encampments, and loitering. Critics may claim this approach stigmatizes the homeless or criminalizes poverty. They couldn’t be more wrong. True compassion refuses to stand by while the death rate among the homeless population rises by 77% in five years. Real compassion recognizes the fundamental human needs of safety, structure, healing, and connection. It meets people where they are, offering pathways to healing and growth that come with expectations for growth and accountability. Trump’s executive order is a turning
point — an offer of sanity, hope, and humanity to a system that has been utterly devoid of it.
Michele Steeb is the founder of Free Up Foundation and author of Answers Behind the Red Door: Battling the Homeless Epidemic.
Bill Maher: I Was Wrong About Tariffs C
probably most people, were saying at the beginning, ‘Oh, you know, by the 4th of July’ — somebody had a thing — how the economy was going to be tanked by then,” Maher said on his Club Random podcast. “And I was kind of like,
‘Well, that seems right to me.’ “[T]he truth is, I don’t
know what his strategy is. But look, the stock market
is at record highs. I know not everybody lives by the stock market, but I also drive around,” he added. “I don’t see a country
in a depression at all. I see people out there just living their lives. And I would have thought — and I gotta own it — that these tariffs were going to sink this economy by this time — and they didn’t.”
SEPTEMBER 2025 | NEWSMAX 27
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