President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that could change how states manage people experiencing homelessness, but advocacy organizations worry it will stigmatize a population without addressing root causes.
The order calls for federal officials to prioritize funding to cities that crack down on open drug use and encampments. Removal could also include “the appropriate use of civil commitment” to mental health facilities or drug treatment centers.
N.C. Coalition to End Homelessness Executive Director Latonya Agard says enforcing the order would be taxing for the state’s infrastructure.
"There's going to be a huge burden on our legal system, as well as our mental health system, and we know that both of those systems are lagging in various ways and don't have the capacity for what's happening right now," she says.
Agard says it also criminalizes an issue while avoiding a serious need — more housing.
According to a federal report, more than 770,000 people were living on the streets in 2024, up 18% from the previous year.
Agard says this seems like an attempt to push the realities of inequities out of sight as more people who are unhoused become increasingly more visible.
"People experiencing homelessness and struggling in this way are a physical, tangible reminder that we have not lived up to the values that we say we hold," she says. "So I think this act of deflection is an attempt to cover up and to avoid us from thinking about those things."
The federal order is similarly putting advocacy organizations in Greensboro that work with individuals experiencing homelessness on high alert.
Under the order, federal agencies would seek to ensure grants do not go towards safe consumption efforts.
It could affect populations like those served by the Interactive Resource Center, a day facility that assists the unhoused.
IRC Executive Director Bennita Curtain says if funding is removed from organizations focused on harm reduction, it could hurt unhoused individuals who are dealing with addiction.
“They are trying to fight this, and actively fighting," she says. "We see the struggle, and we know that it has to be addressed in a comprehensive way. And if these services are gone, I would hate to see what's going to happen to our people.”
Greensboro has already passed an ordinance that prohibits sleeping and camping in public.
Curtain says the city's ordinance is already pushing some individuals to just try to hide better. She says the recent executive order could spread fear and make it even harder to connect people with services.