Trump Pushes to Institutionalize Homeless, Including Vets

President Donald Trump is advancing a sweeping policy agenda that shifts federal homelessness strategy away from the long-standing “housing first” model toward involuntary institutionalization and civil commitment — a plan that may extend to homeless veterans, sparking intense debate over civil liberties and the treatment of vulnerable populations.

At the center of this shift is Executive Order 14321, signed July 24, 2025, which declares that “shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.” The order explicitly calls for ending federal support for “housing first” policies that prioritize providing stable housing without preconditions such as sobriety or treatment compliance.

A Shift From Decades of Policy

For the past two decades, U.S. homelessness policy has been guided by the housing first philosophy, which has been credited with reducing veteran homelessness significantly — from roughly 76,000 in 2010 to about 30,000 today, according to the latest government data. Nearly 750,000 people are homeless in the United States overall.

The executive order argues that “the overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both” and that previous approaches have failed. It directs the attorney general to seek reversal of legal precedents that impede civil commitment and to provide assistance to states for expanding institutional treatment.

The Safe Harbor Proposal and VA Guardianship

This winter, NPR obtained slides describing a proposed VA plan called “Safe Harbor” that would include veterans in the shift to involuntary treatment. The slides were directly linked to Trump’s executive order on homelessness.

In March 2026, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Justice signed a memorandum of understanding authorizing VA attorneys to initiate and participate in state court guardianship or conservatorship proceedings for veterans. VA Secretary Doug Collins maintains the MOU is only for veterans already in VA facilities who cannot make competent medical decisions and has nothing to do with the Safe Harbor proposal.

“We have veterans — not homeless, just veterans — who are in our facilities,” Collins said at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans annual conference in May 2026. “They have no family, they have no representation, and they really are not in a position to actually make competent choices for their own healthcare.”

But critics remain unconvinced. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told NPR that the VA has refused to clarify its intent. “Doug Collins repeatedly fails to recognize or plan for the risks associated with guardianship, an industry rife with fraud and exploitation,” Takano said.

DOJ Memo Threatens Disability Rights Protections

The administration’s push extends beyond homelessness policy. In June 2026, the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel released a memo arguing that states do not have to provide in-home or community-based care to people with disabilities, calling into question decades of civil rights protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. decision.

“It is now the position of the United States government that people with disabilities don’t have a right to be part of their communities,” said Alison Barkoff, a health law professor at George Washington University who led disability policy under the Obama and Biden administrations. “I can’t overstate how significant this change in position is.”

The memo arrives as Republicans have passed deep cuts to Medicaid through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — the primary funding source for community-based services many disabled Americans rely on. Legal experts say the memo effectively gives states permission to cut community supports and rely on institutionalization instead.

The Human Cost

Outreach workers on the front lines argue that relationship-building, not force, is the key to helping homeless veterans. Pedro Jauregui, an Iraq War veteran who works with U.S. Vets in Long Beach, California, once spent a full year building trust with a homeless veteran before convincing him to come indoors.

“Rather than make it something traumatic where we’re forcing you into it, let outreach workers like us build the relationship,” Jauregui said.

His colleague Veronica Hood recently helped 87-year-old Navy veteran Curtis Ervin, who had been homeless for decades, finally accept housing. Ervin came in the next day and is now in housing for the first time in more years than he can remember.

Jess Finucan, director of policy and advocacy at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, called the guardianship approach a “slippery slope.” The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans urged that any such policies be implemented “with strong safeguards, and always with the best interests and rights of the veteran at the center of the process.”

What’s Next

The administration’s push faces significant obstacles. There is already an acute shortage of beds at specialized institutional facilities, and the administration has not identified where institutionalized individuals would be housed. The Texas v. Kennedy case, currently making its way through the courts, could become a landmark challenge to the integration mandate that has protected disability rights for nearly three decades.

Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order in May 2025 promising to house 6,000 homeless veterans at a new National Center for Warrior Independence on the West Los Angeles VA Campus — but the administration’s proposed budget included zero dollars for new housing beds. Advocacy groups and lawmakers from both parties have expressed frustration with the lack of transparency and the gap between promises and funding.

As the legal and policy battles unfold, the core question remains: Will the nation move toward involuntary institutionalization, or continue investing in the voluntary, relationship-based approaches that have already proven effective in reducing homelessness among those who served?