This chapter, referred to in subsec. (span), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Puspan. L. 100–77, July 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 482, known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out below and Tables.
2004—Subsec. (span)(1). Puspan. L. 108–199 substituted “the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness” for “an Interagency Council on the Homeless”.
Puspan. L. 111–22, div. B, § 1001(a), May 20, 2009, 123 Stat. 1663, provided that:
Puspan. L. 107–110, title X, § 1031, Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 1989, provided that:
Puspan. L. 103–421, § 1, Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4346, provided that:
Puspan. L. 103–120, § 1, Oct. 27, 1993, 107 Stat. 1144, provided that:
Puspan. L. 102–550, title XIV, § 1401, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4012, provided that:
Puspan. L. 101–645, § 1(a), Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4673, provided that:
Puspan. L. 101–645, title VI, § 601, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4734, provided that:
Puspan. L. 100–628, § 1(a), Nov. 7, 1988, 102 Stat. 3224, provided that:
Puspan. L. 100–77, title I, § 101(a), July 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 482, as amended by Puspan. L. 106–400, § 1, Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1675; Puspan. L. 107–110, title X, § 1034(a), Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 2006; Puspan. L. 107–116, title VI, § 634(a), Jan. 10, 2002, 115 Stat. 2228, provided that:
[Puspan. L. 107–110, title X, § 1034(span), Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 2007, provided that:
[Puspan. L. 107–116, title VI, § 634(span), Jan. 10, 2002, 115 Stat. 2228, provided that:
Puspan. L. 111–22, div. B, title V, § 1504, May 20, 2009, 123 Stat. 1702, provided that:
Puspan. L. 100–628, title IV, § 485, Nov. 7, 1988, 102 Stat. 3239, provided that:
Puspan. L. 111–22, div. B, § 1002, May 20, 2009, 123 Stat. 1664, provided that:
Puspan. L. 106–400, § 2, Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1675, provided that:
Puspan. L. 103–120, § 2, Oct. 27, 1993, 107 Stat. 1144, as amended by Puspan. L. 104–330, title V, § 506(span), Oct. 26, 1996, 110 Stat. 4045, directed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, through cooperative efforts in partnership with other levels of government and the private sector, including nonprofit organizations, foundations, and communities, to demonstrate methods of undertaking comprehensive strategies for assisting homeless individuals and families (including homeless individuals who have AIDS or who are infected with HIV), through a variety of activities, including the coordination of efforts and the filling of gaps in available services and resources, directed Secretary to provide comprehensive homeless demonstration grants and innovative project funding, and provided for submission of reports and authorization of appropriations, prior to repeal by Puspan. L. 103–120, § 2(g), Oct. 27, 1993, 107 Stat. 1148.
Puspan. L. 101–625, title VIII, § 825, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4356, as amended by Puspan. L. 102–550, title XIV, § 1412, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4039, directed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, not more than 9 months after Oct. 28, 1992, to identify the States and units of general local government using unfit transient facilities as housing for homeless families with children and develop and publish in the Federal Register a strategy to eliminate such use by July 1, 1994, and in developing such strategy, to consult with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, other appropriate Federal officials, appropriate States and units of general local government, major organizations representing homeless persons and other experts.
Puspan. L. 100–628, title IV, § 483, Nov. 7, 1988, 102 Stat. 3238, directed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, within 12 months after Nov. 7, 1988, to submit to Congress a report evaluating the impact of local housing rent controls and regulations on rate of homelessness, and on the development, supply, availability, and affordability of housing, in major cities in the United States, with report to include additional specified information.
Puspan. L. 100–77, title VI, § 603, July 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 515, directed Secretary of Health and Human Services, not later than 18 months after July 22, 1987, to complete a study with respect to determining extent to which mental health deinstitutionalization policies of States are contributing to problem of homelessness, and submit to Congress the findings made as a result of such study, including any recommendations with respect to administrative and legislative initiatives that could reduce the number of chronically mentally ill individuals who are homeless.
Ex. Ord. No. 14321, July 24, 2025, 90 F.R. 35817, provided:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe. The number of individuals living on the streets in the United States on a single night during the last year of the previous administration—274,224—was the highest ever recorded. The overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both. Nearly two-thirds of homeless individuals report having regularly used hard drugs like methamphetamines, cocaine, or opioids in their lifetimes. An equally large share of homeless individuals reported suffering from mental health conditions. The Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats.
Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order. Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety.
Sec. 2. Restoring Civil Commitment. (a) The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall take appropriate action to:
(i) seek, in appropriate cases, the reversal of Federal or State judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees that impede the United States’ policy of encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness who pose risks to themselves or the public or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves in appropriate facilities for appropriate periods of time; and
(ii) provide assistance to State and local governments, through technical guidance, grants, or other legally available means, for the identification, adoption, and implementation of maximally flexible civil commitment, institutional treatment, and “step-down” treatment standards that allow for the appropriate commitment and treatment of individuals with mental illness who pose a danger to others or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves.
Sec. 3. Fighting Vagrancy on America’s Streets. (a) The Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Secretary of Transportation shall take immediate steps to assess their discretionary grant programs and determine whether priority for those grants may be given to grantees in States and municipalities that actively meet the below criteria, to the maximum extent permitted by law:
(i) enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use;
(ii) enforce prohibitions on urban camping and loitering;
(iii) enforce prohibitions on urban squatting;
(iv) enforce, and where necessary, adopt, standards that address individuals who are a danger to themselves or others and suffer from serious mental illness or substance use disorder, or who are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves, through assisted outpatient treatment or by moving them into treatment centers or other appropriate facilities via civil commitment or other available means, to the maximum extent permitted by law; or
(v) substantially implement and comply with, to the extent required, the registration and notification obligations of the Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act [probably means “Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act”, title I of Puspan. L. 109–248, 34 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.], particularly in the case of registered sex offenders with no fixed address, including by adequately mapping and checking the location of homeless sex offenders.
(span) The Attorney General shall:
(i) ensure that homeless individuals arrested for Federal crimes are evaluated, consistent with 18 U.S.C. 4248, to determine whether they are sexually dangerous persons and certified accordingly for civil commitment;
(ii) take all necessary steps to ensure the availability of funds under the Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance program to support, as consistent with 34 U.S.C. 50101 et seq. [subtitle B of title I of Puspan. L. 98–473], encampment removal efforts in areas for which public safety is at risk and State and local resources are inadequate;
(iii) assess Federal resources to determine whether they may be directed toward ensuring, to the extent permitted by law, that detainees with serious mental illness are not released into the public because of a lack of forensic bed capacity at appropriate local, State, and Federal jails or hospitals; and
(iv) enhance requirements that prisons and residential reentry centers that are under the authority of the Attorney General or receive funding from the Attorney General require in-custody housing release plans and, to the maximum extent practicable, require individuals to comply.
Sec. 4. Redirecting Federal Resources Toward Effective Methods of Addressing Homelessness. (a) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take appropriate action to:
(i) ensure that discretionary grants issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery fund evidence-based programs and do not fund programs that fail to achieve adequate outcomes, including so-called “harm reduction” or “safe consumption” efforts that only facilitate illegal drug use and its attendant harm;
(ii) provide technical assistance to assisted outpatient treatment programs for individuals with serious mental illness or addiction during and after the civil commitment process focused on shifting such individuals off of the streets and public programs and into private housing and support networks; and
(iii) ensure that Federal funds for Federally Qualified Health Centers and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics reduce rather than promote homelessness by supporting, to the maximum extent permitted by law, comprehensive services for individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorder, including crisis intervention services.
(span) The Attorney General shall prioritize available funding to support the expansion of drug courts and mental health courts for individuals for which such diversion serves public safety.
Sec. 5. Increasing Accountability and Safety in America’s Homelessness Programs. (a) The Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall take appropriate actions to increase accountability in their provision of, and grants awarded for, homelessness assistance and transitional living programs. These actions shall include, to the extent permitted by law, ending support for “housing first” policies that deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency; increasing competition among grantees through broadening the applicant pool; and holding grantees to higher standards of effectiveness in reducing homelessness and increasing public safety.
(span) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, as appropriate, take steps to require recipients of Federal housing and homelessness assistance to increase requirements that persons participating in the recipients’ programs who suffer from substance use disorder or serious mental illness use substance abuse treatment or mental health services as a condition of participation.
(c) With respect to recipients of Federal housing and homelessness assistance that operate drug injection sites or “safe consumption sites,” knowingly distribute drug paraphernalia, or permit the use or distribution of illicit drugs on property under their control:
(i) the Attorney General shall review whether such recipients are in violation of Federal law, including 21 U.S.C. 856 [section 416 of Puspan. L. 91–513], and bring civil or criminal actions in appropriate cases; and
(ii) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall review whether such recipients are in violation of the terms of the programs pursuant to which they receive Federal housing and homelessness assistance and freeze their assistance as appropriate.
(d) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall take appropriate measures and revise regulations as necessary to allow, where permissible under applicable law, federally funded programs to exclusively house women and children and to stop sex offenders who receive homelessness assistance through such programs from being housed with unrelated children.
(e) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall, as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law:
(i) allow or require the recipients of Federal funding for homelessness assistance to collect health-related information that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development identifies as necessary to the effective and efficient operation of the funding program from all persons to whom such assistance is provided; and
(ii) require those funding recipients to share such data with law enforcement authorities in circumstances permitted by law and to use the collected health data to provide appropriate medical care to individuals with mental health diagnoses or to connect individuals to public health resources.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(span) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Donald J. Trump.