On July 24, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the U.S. Attorney General and other cabinet members to take necessary steps to address homelessness and crime prevention.

The Executive Order (EO) directs the U.S. Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to restore civil commitment by seeking legal recourse in cases that impede the policies of civil commitment and specifically, individuals with mental illness who pose a threat to themselves or the public. Additionally, the EO provides a directive to offer grants as well as legal and technical assistance to state and local government officials to provide services for those individuals.

The EO also directs the U.S. Attorney General, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Secretary of Transportation to assess their discretionary grant funding and determine if priority may be given to states and local governments that meet the following criteria:

• Enforce prohibitions on open illegal drug use.
• Enforce prohibitions on urban camping and loitering.
• Enforce prohibitions on urban squatting.
• Enforce and adopt policies that address individuals suffering from serious mental illness or substance use disorder, or who are homeless, through assisted outpatient treatment or by moving them into treatment centers or other appropriate facilities.
• Substantially implement and comply with the registration and notification obligations of the Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act, particularly in the case of registered sex offenders with no fixed address, including by adequately mapping and checking the location of homeless sex offenders. The U.S. Attorney General is further directed to evaluate, assess, and make available necessary resources to local law enforcement for encampment removal efforts, prioritize funding for the expansion of drug and mental health courts, and ensure that individuals in local, state, and federal prisons are evaluated and placed in the care they require.

Additionally, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is to take action to ensure that discretionary grant funding does not fail to achieve the appropriate outcome and that programs are reducing homelessness. In conjunction with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Secretary of Health and Human Services should take action to end “housing first” policies, create policies to ensure safety in housing programs, evaluate violations of program terms for grantees who operate drug “safe consumption sites,” and hold grantees accountable for utilizing funding to reduce homelessness and increase public safety.

As more information becomes available, the League will provide updates.

Contact: Erin Knoedler, Legislative Analyst, eknoedler@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x116.