We Can Fix Mental Health. That Won’t End Homelessness.

A commentary on the recent executive order

Reforming our mental health system is important. But let’s be clear: it will not, on its own, end homelessness. Those are connected problems with overlapping human stories, but they are not the same and treating them as if they are leads to bad policy.

The White House’s recent executive order, Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets, gives state and local leaders more authority to commit people with mental illness or addiction, many of them experiencing homelessness, into locked facilities. It even proposes rolling back court protections and easing consent decrees so civil commitment can be used to “restore order.”

Supporters of this approach argue that lowering the bar for involuntary hospitalization is compassionate, a way to act before someone is a danger and prevent tragedy, but the evidence does not back up that hope. Studies show that coercive treatment rarely improves long-term stability and can push people further from care. Other studies have shown that involuntary hospitalization does not meaningfully increase treatment adherence or reduce homelessness.

Beyond its ineffectiveness, this approach reinforces stigma, treating homelessness as a symptom of illness and people as problems to be removed, not neighbors who need housing and support. The order even links federal funding to anti‑camping crackdowns while cutting proven housing‑first and harm‑reduction programs. That matters: housing‑first models, which provide permanent housing without preconditions, have repeatedly been shown to reduce homelessness and improve health outcomes, including increasing the amount of mental health care people receive. Removing them erodes a critical foundation that helps people stabilize and begin to address other needs, including mental health care.

And here’s the critical distinction: improving mental health systems, which includes expanding access, investing in prevention, and building community services, is worthwhile and urgent. We should do it. But homelessness has its own causes where mental health is only one factor. When leaders frame psychiatric reform as the solution to homelessness and safety concerns, they are solving for the wrong problem. Housing shortages, low wages, climate-related disasters, and broken safety nets drive homelessness in much more significant ways. Mental health services are always going to help, but they are no substitute for addressing those root causes. The current strategy shifts attention away from housing and poverty.

We need Congress and the White House to separate these challenges and tackle each directly. If we’re serious about mental health, consider passing a Mental Health Infrastructure Act to fund crisis hubs, peer‑run respite centers, and outreach teams helping prevent problems before they start. Connect Medicaid dollars to measurable progress in voluntary access to care. Launch a joint HUD–HHS fund for supportive housing. Set national due‑process standards for outpatient mandates, with court oversight and wraparound services. Create apprenticeships for peer specialists and counselors. Publish scorecards tracking diversion and housing outcomes.

These steps would do more to respect human dignity and address root causes instead of conflating two different problems.

This direction is no different than what we are witnessing with immigration. The administration has proposed pouring unprecedented funds into ICE, including detention and deportation programs, which follows the same pattern of ignoring root causes. In both cases, the country defaults to confinement and control rather than tackling the structural drivers of the crises. Real policy is needed, policy that addresses the root problems, not just more money into the wrong institutions. It’s time to stop defaulting to confinement and start investing in solutions that work.

After all, the true test of policy isn’t how quickly it removes people from view, but how meaningfully it improves their lives.