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Discovery Institute President Steve Buri thanks President Donald Trump for his Executive Order ending the failed Housing First and harm reduction policies. He also highlights the important role Discovery Institute played with its Fix Homelessness project’s street-level reporting and our policy research. We have long advocated for the changes the White House is now pursuing. The homeless deserve the most compassionate and robust care we can provide, and this is an important step in that direction.

In Denver, Colorado — a city that prides itself on inclusion, compassion and progressive ideals — a Christian coffee shop owner has become the target of hostility; it’s not for what he’s done wrong, but for what he’s done right. Jamie Sanchez launched The Drip Cafe as an employment-training program for those struggling with homelessness who want to rebuild their lives. More than just offering a job, the cafe provides mentorship, structure and consistent support to equip team members to reenter the workforce and to attain long-term employment and stability. But for dozens of far-left activists in Denver, ideological conformity overshadows the measurable good of helping the homeless of the streets. Protesters are regularly showing up at his cafe, accusing Read More ›

Dr. Robert Marbut appeared on NewsNation with host Chris Cuomo to discuss President Trump’s “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” Executive Order. Dr. Marbut explains how this Order will serve the street-level homeless community, how harm reduction and Housing First failed, and the importance of focusing on treatment and recovery. [Robert Marbut’s segment begins at 23:20.]

“Today marks the beginning of the end of Housing First as the federal government’s one-size-fits-all—and failed—approach to homelessness.” Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” marking a pivotal shift in federal homelessness policy. Following a decade of failure under our nation’s one-size-fits-all approach to homelessness—Housing First—the president’s move is a long-overdue course-correction rooted in hope, healing, and human dignity. To understand its gravity, we must first confront the promise—and profound failure—of the policy he will begin replacing. In 2013, President Barack Obama pledged to end homelessness within 10 years by embracing Housing First, a model that promised stability through life-long, subsidized housing, with no requirement to address underlying challenges like Read More ›

Robert Marbut appeared on News Nation this afternoon to discuss President Trump’s new “ENDING CRIME AND DISORDER ON AMERICA’S STREETS” Executive Order. Marbut highlights the importance of funding drug addiction treatment, bunks the myth that the homeless will be thrown into jail, and discusses the reasons behind involuntary commitment.

Trump’s executive order will severely cripple America’s homeless industrial complex. But these grifters will not go out without a fight. Lawsuits and protests are already planned. Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Robert Marbut Jr. and I break down what happens next.

The scholars and Fellows of Discovery Institute’s innovative Fix Homelessness initiative applaud President Trump for signing Executive Order, “ENDING CRIME AND DISORDER ON AMERICA’S STREETS,” a decisive step toward dramatically reducing homelessness across the United States. As the nation’s leading think tank on homelessness policy, our organization has long called for the very action this Executive Order takes: rolling back the federal government’s failed, one-size-fits-all “Housing First” mandate. Despite President Obama’s 2013 pledge to end homelessness within a decade, the policy has led to a 34% increase in homelessness. The Biden Administration’s most recent Annual Homeless Assessment Report (December 2024) shows that unsheltered, street-level homelessness is growing at a rate that would double the crisis every five to six years Read More ›

Standing on an Oakland street flanked by legislative allies, California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a sweeping promise in 2021: California would eliminate family homelessness within five years. Backed by an unprecedented $75 billion budget surplus and $27 billion in federal stimulus, his administration committed $12 billion to the crisis, including $3.5 billion for housing units and rental subsidies. His strategy? Double down on Housing First—a one-size-fits-all policy California adopted in 2016 after the federal government’s 2013 embrace of it. Housing First promises permanent, taxpayer-funded housing with no expectations—no sobriety, no treatment, no work, ever. Somehow, the governor missed the glaring reality that under Housing First, homelessness in California exploded by 34%, and unsheltered homelessness by 47% between 2017-2021. Fast forward Read More ›

[The following is a podcast episode originally published April 28, 2025, at Humanize, a podcast hosted by Wesley J. Smith at Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism.] Homelessness has become a crisis in the United States. We live in the richest country in the world, and yet one can drive down main thoroughfares of our most prosperous cities and be confronted with tent encampments lining streets, squalor, open-air drug markets, and destitute people begging. The crisis is multifaceted as it is seemingly intractable. What is the role of mental illness? What about drug addiction? Is the rising cost of housing part of the problem, and if so, what can be done about it? What protections does society owe these vulnerable Read More ›

[Editor’s Note: This article was amended on July 23, 2025, to include information about Ricky’s Law.] In its 2026 state budget, New York is putting a concerted effort behind addressing severe mental illness by expanding its involuntary hospitalization law and increasing the number of psychiatric beds. Kendra’s Law, which allows the involuntary hospitalization of those with a mental illness who pose a threat to themselves or others, will now also allow the hospitalization of those who are unable to care for themselves because of their mental illness. Washington state would do well to follow New York’s example. In Washington state, involuntary hospitalizations are handled by designated crisis responders (DCRs) under the state’s Involuntary Treatment Act. DCRs determine whether the individual Read More ›