If we want safer, healthier communities, the answer is not handcuffs, it’s compassion, treatment, and a commitment to human dignity.
A recent executive order has reignited debate about how we address homelessness and mental illness. The order frames people experiencing homelessness, particularly those with psychiatric illness, as threats to “public safety”, prioritizing enforcement and removal over treatment and support.
This approach treats homelessness as a crime rather than a symptom of deeper crises: lack of affordable housing, untreated trauma, systemic inequities, and gaps in our mental health and addiction treatment systems.
As a mental health professional, I’ve seen firsthand how punishment exacerbates suffering rather than alleviating it. Criminalizing homelessness does not create stability, it strips people of dignity and pushes recovery further out of reach.
Punishment Deepens the Cycle of Trauma
When people experiencing homelessness are ticketed, fined, or jailed for sleeping outside, they do not magically gain stability. Instead, they accumulate criminal records that make employment and housing even harder to secure. They endure repeated disruptions that exacerbate existing trauma. Jails, which are ill-equipped to provide adequate psychiatric care, become revolving doors where individuals cycle between the street and a cell without meaningful support.
This is not only inhumane, it is profoundly ineffective. Treating people as criminals for lacking shelter diverts law enforcement and judicial resources while leaving the underlying problems unaddressed.
Mental Health and Homelessness Are Deeply Connected
Research consistently shows that a significant portion of people experiencing homelessness also live with serious mental illness, trauma, or substance use disorders. Studies estimate that around one-quarter of the homeless population faces severe mental health challenges. These conditions are not improved by incarceration. They require treatment, compassion, and stability.
In my own work, I’ve seen how trauma compounds when someone who is already struggling with PTSD or major depression is criminalized for simply existing in public. Rather than reducing “disorder”, punitive measures deepen hopelessness and despair. People don’t recover through punishment, they recover when they are empowered with therapy, safety, and the chance to rebuild.
What Works
We already know what works. The Housing First model, providing stable housing without preconditions, has been proven to reduce chronic homelessness, improve mental health outcomes, and lower overall public spending on emergency services. When paired with evidence-based therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and trauma-informed care, stable housing becomes the foundation for true recovery.
Community-based solutions also work, like mobile crisis response teams, integrated mental health and substance use services, and supportive housing programs save lives and reduce strain on emergency departments and law enforcement. These are not radical ideas, they are common-sense, cost-effective, and backed by years of evidence.
A Matter of Dignity and Public Safety
Criminalizing homelessness reflects fear and stigma, not evidence or compassion. It frames vulnerable people as threats rather than neighbors in need. But true public safety comes from building communities where people are housed, supported, and treated with dignity.
If we continue down the path of punishment, we will not only fail those who need help most, we will also burden our systems and weaken the fabric of our communities. But if we choose compassion and invest in proven solutions, we can create a future where fewer people fall into homelessness, and those who do have a real chance to recover.
The bottom line
Policymakers must resist the temptation of quick fixes that criminalize poverty. Instead, they should direct resources toward affordable housing, accessible mental health treatment, and preventive care. Communities must reject stigma and advocate for humane, effective responses. And as individuals, we must remember that homelessness is not a personal failing, it is a systemic failure we can correct together.
If we want safer, healthier communities, the answer is not handcuffs, it’s compassion, treatment, and a commitment to human dignity.
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