The Trump administration is celebrating what it calls a record-breaking nationwide decline in homelessness, even as Californias largest city continues to move in the wrong direction.
According to the New York Post, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that homelessness has seen its steepest drop on record, a shift the agency attributes to President Trumps border enforcement and his reversal of progressive housing policies. HUD officials argue that replacing the Biden-era Housing First model with a strategy centered on addiction treatment and public order is beginning to pay measurable dividends.
According to data from the 2026 nationwide Point-in-Time (PIT) count, 698,425 individuals were homeless on a single night in January, a 6.3% decrease since President Trump took office in 2025. This follows historic border control and a Supreme Court victory reaffirming the right of local governments to limit dangerous encampments, HUD said. The administration has framed these numbers as proof that stricter immigration controls and a tougher stance on street encampments can reverse years of policy failure under progressive leadership.
Yet California, long dominated by left-wing governance and expansive welfare programs, is defying the national trend. Los Angeles County recorded an estimated 73,040 homeless residents in 2026, a 1.2% increase, while the city of Los Angeles saw its homeless population jump 3.4% to 45,194, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
HUD officials directly linked the earlier surge in homelessness to the prior Democratic approach, which prioritized unconditional housing subsidies over accountability and treatment. Under the Biden Administrations Housing First mandate, homelessness increased 28% from 2022 to 2025. This is why HUD is dispensing with this harmful approach and implementing Treatment First policies to help Americans tackle addiction, the agency added.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner sharpened the critique by tying homelessness to lax border and sanctuary policies championed by blue states and liberal city halls. He faulted the Biden teams immigration agenda and accused illegal immigrants of straining local resources, singling out California, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts for their sanctuary frameworks that shield migrants from federal enforcement.
The Trump administration is formally abandoning the longstanding federal Housing First model, which prioritized immediate shelter without requiring sobriety or treatment, in favor of a Treatment First framework that insists on confronting addiction and mental health issues head-on. Supporters of the shift argue that simply handing out housing while tolerating drug abuse entrenches dysfunction, whereas connecting people with care and enforcing basic standards of behavior restores both dignity and public safety.
Trump signed an executive order in July 2025 directing federal agencies to implement the new strategy and to crack down on homelessness, crime and disorder in public spaces. The move signaled a broader conservative push to restore law and order in urban centers where progressive policies have coincided with rising encampments, open-air drug markets and declining quality of life.
The federal announcement also comes at a politically fraught moment for Republicans in Washington, arriving just days after Democrats notched significant gains in the midterm elections. Trump also fired chief of staff Susie Wiles on Friday following the electoral losses, tapping longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller to replace her, a personnel shift that underscores the administrations intent to double down on border security and public-order reforms rather than retreat under pressure from the left.
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