(The Center Square) — President Donald Trump has issued an executive order, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” aimed at the involuntary civil commitment of homeless people.
The impact of this national policy change is potentially massive in Nevada, where the homeless population has steadily grown in recent years.
“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order,” read Trump’s July 24 order. “Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety.”
Across the country, the number of homeless people decreased slightly from 2007 to 2020. But between 2022 and 2024, the homeless population skyrocketed by 32.5%, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual report to Congress.
From 2017 to 2023, the number of homeless individuals in Nevada rose by 10.6%, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reported.
And an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 homeless people are now living in the storm drains under the Las Vegas Strip, according to Scientific American.
Trump’s executive order would seek to address this growing issue in Nevada and across the country by reintroducing a policy of committing homeless people, if deemed a danger to themselves or others, to “long-term institutional settings.”
Forced institutionalization is a throwback to before the 1980s, when mental health institutions were shut down, and their patients ended up on the streets. The National Institutes of Health said the U.S. moved away from this policy of involuntary commitment in the 1960s.
But in the 1980s, “gentrification of the inner city, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, high unemployment rate, the emergence of HIV/AIDS, an inadequate supply of affordable housing options, and deep budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),” started the homeless crisis the U.S. is currently grappling with, according to a 2018 NIH report.
Homeless advocacy groups are worried Trump’s executive order could make the national homelessness crisis worse.
“This order represents the most harmful policy proposal on homelessness in my career,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, in a statement. “This order demonstrates a lack of focus and understanding on what our communities — both red and blue — need to address this crisis. Instead, it largely focuses on punishing people for being homeless and denying desperately needed funds to overwhelmed and under-resourced frontline workers.”
Homeless advocates and policy experts argue instead that easy access to affordable housing is the big fix for homelessness, a policy they call “Housing First.”
“Decades of research prove how effective and cost-effective Housing First can be,” read a U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness report. “Studies show that 9 out of 10 people remain housed a year after receiving Housing First assistance.”
But rural parts of Nevada are facing an affordable housing crisis, according to a University of Nevada, Reno Extension study.
For the Silver State’s most vulnerable, access to subsidized housing can mean an almost two-year wait, according to a report by USAFacts, a not-for-profit research organization started by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Trump’s order called for an end to Housing First policy, “to the extent permitted by law,” but it is unclear still how much impact this will have.
Currently, homelessness is treated as a local and state issue, with some grants given by the federal government. The executive order did not specify any reduction in grants, but did call for increased scrutiny of grant applicants and the end of “harm reduction” and “safe consumption” programs.
With the Nevada governor’s race beginning to take shape ahead of the November 2026 election, the homelessness issue could become a key battleground.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford are expected to be the frontrunners, but another candidate, Democratic Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill, has championed a Housing First policy in her county. Hill told The Center Square that Washoe County was a model for homeless policy in Nevada.
Lombardo supported and signed the Housing Access and Attainability Act, also known as Assembly Bill 540. It is designed to address the housing crisis by streamlining development and accelerating housing construction and invests $250 million of state funds on housing aimed at essential workers. Lombardo’s goal is to stimulate $1 billion in housing projects, as previously reported by The Center Square.
But the Republican governor has been criticized by the Democratic majority in the Nevada Assembly for his veto of 2023 House bills that would have developed housing.
Ford, meanwhile, joined 20 other attorneys general in February in filing an amicus brief in a federal suit to block the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from cancelling grants to 66 fair housing organizations.
