(Washington, D.C.– August 13th, 2026)

This week marks one year since the Trump administration’s takeover of Washington, DC. Vicious attacks on homeless Washingtonians were and remain central to this takeover. One year later, the results are clear: these attacks make solving homelessness harder, make DC less safe, and force us all to pay the price.

On August 10, 2025, Trump announced his takeover of DC, making it clear that homeless Washingtonians would be a primary target. Within just four days, hundreds of National Guard troops were roaming DC’s streets, hordes of federal agents were harassing people sleeping outside, and homeless communities were displaced and their residents’ belongings destroyed.

One year later little has changed: shelters are full, rents are too high, there are no new housing vouchers, and supportive services are well over capacity.  The takeover did not solve any of these problems. Instead, it only made homelessness worse by wasting resources, pushing homeless Washingtonians farther away from the safety of their communities, and disrupting their connections with outreach workers and the vital supports and services on which they rely.

The takeover of DC was a signal for the Trump administration’s homelessness policy agenda nationwide. In the year since, his administration has continued their attempt to defund real solutions to homelessness, like housing and support, take away rights from homeless people, and make homelessness a crime.

As we said one year ago, what starts in DC will spread across the country. The Department of Justice recently invited cities to apply for $300 million in funding for a new grant which includes attacks on homeless communities to “continue and expand the successes seen in… DC.” Moreover, new reporting shows the National Guard is now involved in harassing homeless people in New Orleans.

The impacts of this takeover underscore what we’ve known all along: we’ll never arrest or evict our way out of a housing crisis. We need more housing, support, and care, not federal occupation, arrests and fear.

“Last year, I witnessed the harm of Trump’s hostile takeover of DC firsthand,” said Jesse Rabinowitz from the National Homelessness Law Center. “I saw federal agents intimidate homeless Washingtonians and watched as communities were displaced and vital belongings destroyed.  The ongoing deployment of the National Guard in DC is set to cost over $600 million a year. Instead, that money could be used to solve homelessness for over 16,000 people a year. If politicians actually wanted to solve homelessness and make our communities safer, they would stop attacking our neighbors and focus on ensuring everyone has the housing and support they need.”

“The federal takeover of DC caused deep and lasting harm to our neighbors experiencing homelessness,” said Andy Wassenich from Miriam’s Kitchen. “During this period, federal actions led to encampment evictions with little warning, leaving people displaced and, in some cases, watching as their belongings were discarded. These actions did nothing to create the housing, shelter, or supportive services DC desperately needs. Instead, they pushed people away from their communities, disrupted connections with trusted service providers, and created additional barriers on the path from homelessness to housing. One year later, Miriam’s Kitchen remains steadfast in our belief that the solution to homelessness is housing and services – not arrests, displacement, or evictions.”

“More people become homeless every year in D.C. than are assisted with affordable housing,” said Amber Harding from The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “The solution to homelessness has always been and always will be housing, not criminalization. Criminalization is only effective at increasing trauma and harm, implicitly furthering the fallacy that people who cannot afford housing are somehow less deserving of empathy, dignity, or assistance. We reject both the underlying ideology and the actions of using government power and authority to harm rather than help people experiencing homelessness.”

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About the National Homelessness Law Center   

The National Homelessness Law Center is committed to protecting the rights of unhoused people across the United States and to advocating for policies that prevent and end homelessness, ensuring that all people have access to safe and adequate housing.