It has been over a week since President Trump declared a public safety emergency and placed DC under federal rule, deploying 800 DC National Guard troops into the nation’s capital and seizing temporary control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). This order was announced on August 11 after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee was injured in an attempted carjacking. The 1973 Home Rule Act gives the president command over the DC National Guard and allows him to take control of the local police force during emergencies. While the law limits the president’s authority over the MPD to 30 days unless extended by Congress, Trump directly controls the DC National Guard and can order it to remain in place indefinitely. Only the courts can challenge his deployment of the Guard, and many fear President Trump will bypass the system of checks and balances yet again.

Federalization of DC and Anti-Homelessness Policies 

In his remarks last week, Trump asserted that crime and homelessness are rampant throughout DC and that federal officials would be removing unhoused individuals from the city. However, the numbers paint a very different picture of life in the District. MPD crime data shows that DC crime reached a 30-year low in 2024 and that violent crime is down 26 percent compared to this time last year. Homelessness in DC also decreased from 2024 to 2025. According to the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, homelessness in DC dropped by 9 percent in 2025, including an 18 percent decrease in family homelessness. The president’s claims that DC has been overrun by “bloodthirsty criminals” and “homeless people” are founded in falsehoods. 

The Trump administration’s attack on people experiencing homelessness is not new. As a part of his effort to make DC “safe and beautiful”, Trump stated his intentions to clear encampments throughout the city in March. On a national level, he has also expressed his “get-tough-on-homelessness” approach, signing an executive order in July mandating towns and states to remove unhoused people from public spaces, expanding involuntary psychiatric institutionalization, and ending support for Housing First policies. A day after the federalization of DC was announced, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt threatened that unhoused individuals who “refused” to go to shelters would be institutionalized or would need to accept treatment with fines and jail time.

What’s Happening Now in DC?

It remains uncertain how many of the at least 900 unsheltered DC residents have been affected by the federalization of DC. The White House claimed that 70 encampments have been removed since March, but we know that people experiencing homelessness often relocate to other areas within the city after their encampments are cleared. Currently, it appears that the federal clearing of homeless encampments has been limited and has not taken place on a mass scale yet. Although the impacts of Trump’s attack on the people experiencing homelessness may be scattered for now, the encampment clearings in DC have escalated fear throughout the unhoused community. Some unhoused people have moved closer to the suburbs of DC in Maryland and Virginia, others ride the metro back and forth, and many remain in DC. 

Despite the Trump administration’s offer of shelter beds, the reality is that there are few beds available in DC.

“If Donald Trump really wanted to help people and solve homelessness, he would use his power to lower rents and help people make ends meet,”

said Jesse Rabinowitz from the National Homelessness Law Center. Instead of addressing the root causes of homelessness, like the affordable housing supply and socioeconomic inequality, the president has moved to criminalize homelessness. Looking ahead into the 2026 Fiscal Year (FY26), the White House proposed a FY26 budget that eliminates the Continuum of Care (CoC), a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that has helped some cities nearly eliminate homelessness. CoC is the federal government’s primary means of distributing homelessness funds; the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) estimates that eradicating this program could increase the number of unhoused people in the US by 36 percent.  

Our DC: Solidarity and Community Action 

In many ways, DC symbolizes the antithesis of the Trump administration’s core policies and values. It is an overwhelmingly democratic city, with only 6.6 percent of the population voting for Trump in 2024. It was a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants seeking protection. It is also a city where Black residents constitute approximately 42 percent of the population. DC, at its heart, stands in direct opposition to the president’s racist, classist, and xenophobic rhetoric. A Washington Post survey released Wednesday found that 79 percent of Washingtonians oppose the president’s marshalling of federal agents and deployment of the National Guard. And DC residents are not staying silent in the face of federal takeover. Every day on social media and in the news, we see videos of people resisting and coming together to fight for their rights. Keya Chatterjee, executive director of Free DC, spoke on “The Take” podcast earlier this week, “

This is a ‘which side are you on’ moment. And right now, either you are on the side of the people of DC, or you are on the side of tyranny.”

To say that the mood in the nation’s capital is tense would be an understatement. Residents, housed and unhoused, are fearful as more federal agents, National Guard soldiers, and local police officers pour into the streets. At the request of the Trump administration, governors from six states, including West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee are sending National Guard troops to DC. As of Thursday evening, there are more than 2,000 Guard troops in DC, and the cost to keep them stationed in the city is no small price. Research reveals that it will likely cost at least one million dollars a day for 2,000 troops to patrol the city. 

 It is important to note that under the law, the National Guard cannot perform law enforcement duties and that officials have affirmed that the Guard has not made any arrests. The endless stream of breaking news and frightening content on social media can at times feel like it’s obscuring our path to justice and housing for all. However, this is not the time to quit. America is watching, and as President Trump has already publicly stated, he plans to “look at” Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles next. We must continue to fight for equal rights so that all people have their basic needs, including housing, met. 

Housing Up maintains our commitment to the families we serve and our wider DC community. We are working closely with one another and our partners to ensure our affordable housing communities remain safe and secure for the families we serve. If you are looking for a way to get involved, please check out resources from organizations like Housing Not Handcuffs, National Homelessness Law Center, and National Alliance to End Homelessness. Let us continue our fight to end homelessness in DC, together. 

Quick News Links 

• How long can Trump’s D.C. takeover last? Here’s what to know 
• How Can the Government ‘Take Back’ a City It Largely Controls? 
• Trump puts DC police department under federal control, deploys National Guard 
• How Trump’s D.C. takeover criminalizes homelessness 
• For D.C.’s Homeless, Strained Lives Become More Unstable 
• ‘Playing human whack-a-mole’ | Homeless advocates warn DC encampment sweeps will backfire 
• Trump’s Get-Tough Approach on Homelessness May Sweep Up Veterans 
• Trump has suggested a nationwide crime crackdown. Here’s what he can do outside of DC 
• Supermajority of Washington residents oppose Trump’s police takeover, poll finds 
• Hundreds more National Guard troops expected to arrive in DC 
• National Guard Troops in Washington Stick to Tourist Areas