How a Billionaire Shaped Trump’s Homelessness Policy
A new investigation by The New York Times reveals how the Cicero Institute, founded by billionaire venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, has become the leading force behind the Republican Party’s tough measures on homelessness—and how its influence has reached directly into the Trump administration’s policy approach.
The investigation details how the Austin-based think tank has pushed model legislation across the country that criminalizes street camping, promotes involuntary civil commitment, and rejects the evidence-based Housing First approach. This year, the Cicero Institute’s team flew to Indiana to help make it a crime for homeless people to sleep on the street—their third attempt after previous efforts had failed in the conservative state.
The Billionaire Behind the Policy Push
Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies and managing partner of the venture capital firm 8VC, founded the Cicero Institute in 2016. According to Wikipedia, he is an active Republican donor who supported Elon Musk’s America PAC in 2024 with a $1 million contribution and co-founded the University of Austin in 2023.
The Cicero Institute’s “Reducing Street Homelessness Act” template includes four primary elements: a statewide camping ban with penalties of up to $5,000 and one month in jail; a diversion of federal and state funding from evidence-based housing to short-term state-run encampments; lowered due process protections for involuntary commitment to state psychiatric institutions; and creation of “homeless outreach teams” requiring law enforcement to force unhoused people into state-run encampments under threat of arrest.
As of August 2024, bills based on the Cicero template had been introduced in fifteen states and passed in eight. By April 2026, Housing Not Handcuffs reported that 22 states across the country were considering or had passed legislation based on Cicero’s ideas.
From Statehouses to the White House
The Trump administration’s homelessness policy has closely mirrored the Cicero Institute’s rhetoric. In July 2025, Trump issued Executive Order 14321, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” which portrayed homeless people as a threat and called for more civil commitment. The Cicero Institute then created bespoke policy action plans for states to comply with the executive order, covering at least 21 states.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its latest Notice of Funding Opportunity for homelessness spending on June 1, 2026, which cites the Cicero Institute four times, according to Shelterforce.
Indiana: A Case Study in Influence
Indiana became the latest battleground for the Cicero Institute’s agenda. Under Senate Enrolled Act 285, signed into law and effective July 1, 2026, a person who declines to move from public land after a warning and a 48-hour transition period faces a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
The law’s impact is already being felt. As the Lafayette Journal & Courier reported, Dea Felty, a homeless woman in Lafayette, asked upon learning about the new law: “When did we stop being human?” Jason, a 32-year-old homeless man in Indiana, questioned the logic of the approach: “If they arrest somebody for being homeless, what are they going to do after that person gets out? Arrest them again?”
The bill divided Republicans in Indiana—nine senators voted against it. Prosperity Indiana estimates that enforcing the law will cost the state $1 million to $2 million annually in jail and court costs, while creating no new housing and leaving those penalized with a record that makes it harder to find work or housing.
Conflicts of Interest and Profit Motives
The National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC) released a research brief on June 3, 2026, detailing the Cicero Institute’s conflicts of interest. The report highlights ties to Social Purpose Corrections, an organization advocating for a nonprofit prison model, and Lonsdale’s connections to immigration detention and surveillance through 8VC investments in Palantir, Citizen, and Sauron.
“It’s always been a question: Why does this billionaire tech bro care about homelessness?” Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at NHLC, told Shelterforce. “Why are they so invested in spending their own resources in making it a crime to sleep outside? And this report presents compelling evidence that there’s a potential profit motive here.”
According to the NHLC report, Lonsdale donated to Trump’s campaign and “regularly meets with the White House and Pentagon.” Rabinowitz told The American Prospect that “the Cicero Institute is all over this executive order, and the executive order is one of the worst things to happen to people experiencing homelessness in decades.”
The Housing First Debate
The policy push comes amid a fundamental disagreement over how to address homelessness. Housing First—the strategy of prioritizing getting homeless people into homes first instead of requiring sobriety to qualify for an apartment—has substantial evidence supporting its effectiveness. The Cicero Institute rejects this approach, arguing that “Permanent supportive housing doesn’t address homelessness—it creates demand for more homelessness and supports cronyism,” as stated on its website.
Ann Oliva, head of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, warned in an NPR interview that “one of the fastest ways to make solving a problem harder is to politicize it. And that’s what’s happening on the issue of homelessness.”
Jeff Olivet, former head of the government’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, called for a more balanced approach: “We need all of the above. It’s not an either-or way of thinking that’s going to solve this.”
The Supreme Court Catalyst
The 2024 Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson ruled that cities can legally remove encampments even when residents have no shelters to go to. Since then, more than 200 municipalities have passed ordinances against people sleeping outdoors, accelerating state-level criminalization efforts.
What’s Next
As the Trump administration continues to implement its homelessness agenda, the influence of the Cicero Institute shows no signs of waning. Advocates remain concerned about the direction of policy, with Rabinowitz warning that the attacks on homeless people are “in service of an authoritarian agenda.”
“We will never solve homelessness until we address the underlying factors, the number one of which is that the rent is just too damn high,” Rabinowitz said. “We know that housing solves homelessness. There’s just not nearly enough [affordable housing] to go around.”
With more states considering Cicero-inspired legislation and the federal government embracing its approach, the debate over how America addresses its homelessness crisis—and who shapes that policy—is far from over.