President Donald Trump’s executive order on homelessness calls for the institutionalization or imprisonment of people found sleeping outdoors. It also forces treatment on unhoused individuals suffering from mental illness and addiction.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont denounced the executive order Monday.
“President Trump: Homelessness is not a crime, not here in Connecticut and not in America,” Lamont said.
But Connecticut Housing Advocates, a coalition of housing nonprofits, says Lamont’s condemnation of the order isn’t enough action.
“We appreciate Governor Lamont’s words but will not be heartened until we see him act,” the advocates said in a statement. “We cannot address homelessness without housing and we cannot build enough housing until we start to tear down the red tape and regulatory barriers purposefully erected by many local officials who choose not to permit home construction in their towns.”
Homelessness service providers, lawmakers and housing advocates are rallying around the unhoused community, appeasing fears regarding the order.
“Only about 30% of those experiencing homelessness in Connecticut report serious mental illness, and fewer than one in five report a substance use disorder,” according to Nancy Navaretta, commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. “That means the vast majority are simply people facing poverty, housing shortages and systemic inequities.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney says there won’t be an immediate change in Connecticut law.
“Reading the law of this executive order ... it's premised on the notion that somehow he has the right to federalize and criminalize regardless of the fact that most of the issues are really subject to state and local control,” Courtney said.
Trump has drafted more than 170 executive orders during his current term, a third of which are tied up in court, according to Courtney.
Courtney says the most imminent state impact of the executive order is the loss of millions of dollars in federal funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support shelters and housing programs.
The order also shifts away from a “housing first” policy, which puts a focus on housing people before addressing potential causes of homelessness like addiction or mental illness.
A 2018 study of the state’s “housing first” policy, produced for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found prioritizing shelter before treatment or employment does work.
The model also saves taxpayers money, as it costs less to get an unhoused person into shelter than it costs to care for someone chronically unhoused and in need of medical intervention, according to Kara Capone, chief executive officer of Community Housing Advocates.
“A recent study looked at implementation of housing first for chronically homeless individuals, and found that once enrolled in housing, healthcare costs declined by almost $10,500 per person per year,” Capone said. “Now, multiply that by 5,000 people that we serve in Connecticut alone.”
