Trump administration’s war on homeless people harms veterans

A version of this column originally appeared in Michigan Advance.

November is a special time in Michigan, as we both honor U.S. veterans and observe Homeless Awareness Month. This Veterans Day, however, the Trump administration is threatening to undo our progress against homelessness in ways that could hurt veterans in particular.

The U.S. has made incredible strides in reducing veteran homelessness by 55% since 2009. In contrast, overall homelessness declined by only 10% through 2022 and then surged to a record high in 2024 as pandemic relief measures came to an end.

At the center of our remarkable progress for veterans are two strategies: housing vouchers and the “Housing First” approach (which starts with the premise that people need safe, stable housing before they can successfully address other life challenges, like unemployment or substance use disorder).

Now, the Trump administration wants to slash both and, worse yet, replace them with increased criminalization measures. This will hurt veterans and hundreds of thousands of other Americans experiencing homelessness or on the brink.

In July, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) seeking to weaken protections against forced institutionalization of people with mental health disabilities and unhoused people. The EO also directs federal grant programs that fund community homeless services to abandon evidence-based, humane approaches — like Housing First — and instead reward communities that center arrest and incarceration.

If implemented, these policy changes could disproportionately harm veterans, of whom about one-third have a disability here in Michigan. Among unhoused veterans, the disability rate is 55% – notably higher than for unhoused people overall. Specifically, 1 in 3 has a mental health disability, 1 in 3 has a physical disability, and 1 in 6 has a chronic health condition.

At the same time, the Trump administration is pushing for a 50% cut to federal rental assistance programs, including Housing Choice Vouchers, and a 70% cut to the agency that enforces fair housing laws. Reported cases of housing discrimination are rising, with disability-based discrimination now making up more than half. Thus, gutting this agency could threaten access to safe housing for veterans in particular.

The monstrous Trump crackdown on disabled and unhoused folks comes alongside massive cuts to Medicaid and food assistance under the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In Michigan, 39,000 veterans are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and more than 57,000 are enrolled in Medicaid. The Republican-sponsored bill eliminated a provision that made it easier for veterans and unhoused people to access their SNAP benefits and puts half a million Michiganders at risk of losing their health insurance.

During Trump’s first term, homelessness ticked up after years of slow but steady decline. Now, the Trump administration’s agenda threatens to push more Americans — including veterans and their families — into economic precarity. This essentially guarantees continued growth of the unhoused population who would be targeted for lockup, either in psychiatric institutions or jails.

Obviously, saddling people with criminal records and fines they can’t pay won’t make it easier for them to secure gainful employment and stable housing in the future. A person who has been incarcerated once is nearly seven times more likely to experience homelessness, and, for those incarcerated more than once, 13 times more likely.

The Trump administration’s war on homeless people will have a particular impact on disabled people and veterans. That the president and those propping him up would take freedom away from those who have defended ours — many of whom became disabled in service to our country — is unconscionable. To honor U.S. veterans this year, we can start by making sure they and the fellow Americans they have dedicated their lives to serving all have safe, stable homes.