The EO signed on Thursday, July 24, directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to overturn long-standing judicial precedents and terminate consent decrees that restrict municipalities from relocating homeless populations. In addition, it calls for a reallocation of federal resources toward rehabilitation centers and substance abuse facilities, where many of those displaced would be sent.

Under the order, Bondi will coordinate with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Housing Secretary Scott Turner and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to expedite federal funding for state and local governments that take aggressive action against "urban camping, open illicit drug use, loitering and squatting." The initiative will also include tracking the location of sex offenders within homeless populations.

Trump said the measure is a "common-sense approach" to homelessness, which he framed as both a public safety and national image issue.

"Right outside, there were some tents, and they're getting rid of them right now, you can't do that, especially in Washington, DC. I talk to the mayor about it all the time, I said you gotta get rid of the tents," Trump told a reporter on the White House South Lawn the next day after signing the order. "We can't have it when leaders come to see me to make a trade deal for billions and billions and even trillions of dollars, and they come in and there's tents outside of the White House, we can't have that. It doesn't sound nice."

Trump fulfills presidential campaign promise to "end homelessness across America"

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), homelessness in the U.S. reached its highest level on record in 2024. More than 770,000 people experienced homelessness last year – an 18 percent increase over 2023. HUD cited a growing shortage of affordable housing, climate-related disasters and an influx of migrants as primary drivers. (Related: HOMELESSNESS in the U.S. reaches RECORD HIGH amid worsening economic downturn post-pandemic.)

In turn, Trump has made homelessness a focal point of his domestic agenda, often linking encampments to urban decay and public safety concerns during his 2024 presidential campaign. At a rally in North Carolina last fall, he told his supporters that "the homeless encampments will be gone."

"The homeless encampments will be gone," Trump said during his presidential campaign in North Carolina last year. "They're going to be gone. Oh, you have to see, you have to – some of these encampments, what they've done to our cities, and we've got to take care of the people."

Now, Trump has fulfilled that promise to the American people.

"By removing vagrant criminals from our streets and redirecting resources toward substance abuse programs, the Trump Administration will ensure that Americans feel safe in their own communities and that individuals suffering from addiction or mental health struggles are able to get the help they need," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.