They’re criminalizing homelessness. Again. #mentalhealthawareness #therapy #mentalhealthadvocate

They’re criminalizing homelessness. Again. #mentalhealthawareness #therapy #mentalhealthadvocate

So, we’ve got a new mental health policy update here that is pretty up. On July 24th, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order with specific language to curb homelessness and severe mental illness by promoting institutionalization and criminalization towards vulnerable populations without the need for a crime to be present. My name’s Leo, licensed mental health counselor, and here’s why this isn’t overblown. I personally think there are two key details to this that people need to know about. For one, Donald Trump’s policy falls in line with his predecessor, former President Ronald Reagan, who turned over the powers of mental health care to the states in the face of a policy former President Jimmy Carter enacted, the Mental Health Systems Act, just a year before to provide financial support for mental health programs across the country, which, as we all know, in turn dumped people out of fally funded institutions without any adequate support and increased homelessness abroad. And so within the context of state level policies designed to make homelessness even more of a desolate experience than it already is over the past several years, you’d think that our leaders would look to the research which actually says that interventions such as the housing first model, pure support, mobile crisis teams, and community- based mental health care have consistently been demonstrated to be far superior options to curb homelessness and psychiatric crises without any further retraumatization or the need for incarceration. But unfortunately in this US system of public policy, money talks. And right now, it’s giving out to the majority of everyday Americans who might be a stones throw away from a financial crisis, a big you. And yet, for me, that isn’t even the worst part. Because the second thing I want to say is this. When you think of where we’re going over the next 10 years, national debt, inflation, labor landscape, unemployment, and economic instability aside, look at this chart for a moment and tell me which group of people here do you see being hit the hardest. And finally, look at this chart and tell me who’s being protected and has been protected this way since the Reagan era. Now, look, this is but an executive order which has yet to be fully challenged. It’s not as legitimate as a constitutional amendment or an act. And we’ll see which of our states and our leaders fall in line or go against the grain. I say all this to mean that the criminalization of homelessness is just another step in the bastardization of the most economically capable country, as well as our ability to take care of our own. that systemic racism is alive and well and that we as a community cannot tolerate this. Like and subscribe for more evidence-based mental health content. And if you have a hard time sitting with this imposed grief on your own, please take this with you to therapy.

On July 24, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order targeting homelessness and severe mental illness. But here’s what most people don’t realize: this move echoes Ronald Reagan’s dismantling of federal mental health care and opens the door to more criminalization of poverty and psychiatric disability.

In this video, I break down what this order really means, how the Housing First model and community-based care work better, how systemic racism and economic instability continue to shape who gets help, and who gets punished.

If you’re feeling grief or anger about what’s happening, please take this message with you to therapy.

Like, comment, and subscribe for more evidence-based mental health content.

#housingcrisis #housingfirst #mentalhealth #mentalhealthshorts