Left-wing activists have made homelessness a political business

OPINION:

Moves by President Trump to crack down on cities drowning in crime and public disorder are long overdue. For years, liberal jurisdictions have let chaos run wild, with banners calling for defunding the police waving high, antisemitism parading through public parks and drug use running rampant.

As Uncle Sam works to reclaim the streets, another battle is taking place elsewhere. The same left-wing groups whose antics helped drive urban disorder have also infiltrated the sprawling network of nonprofits that are supposedly addressing the homelessness crisis. Newsflash: The groups are collecting billions of dollars to support politics over people and smart reform.

According to new research — the result of collaboration between the Capital Research Center and the Discovery Institute — several so-called homeless charities are using public dollars to bankroll protests, file lawsuits, and advocate for ill-conceived policies in town halls and state capitals across the country. Although not all are household names, these organizations are nonetheless capable of making a big splash, and the homeless people themselves are getting soaked, for the worse.

For example, groups such as the National Housing Law Project and Western Regional Advocacy Project advocate for “housing first” and “housing justice” policies that leave homeless Americans with no support structure or incentives to break the poverty cycle. These models prioritize giving away apartments with no strings attached — no treatment, no accountability, no expectation of sobriety or work. Predictably, without confronting the addiction or mental illness that is often the root problem, the policies fail to move the needle.

A 2024 Supreme Court case is another illustration of how these groups are collecting billions of dollars in the name of fighting homelessness but are, in reality, exacerbating it. When a small city tried to enforce basic anti-camping laws after parks were overrun with tents and drug activity, more than 400 organizations receiving federal homelessness grants swooped in to support a lawsuit.

Reality check: Discouraging tent cities in urban areas helps encourage homeless individuals to seek the shelters, treatments and social services they need. Otherwise, the problem continues to fester.

Meanwhile, the National Coalition for the Homeless uses its platform to push racial and economic justice issues. The National Alliance to End Homelessness now functions more as a lobbying shop than a service provider, campaigning for rent control and climate change measures under the guise of equity. These charities have become glorified political operations with nonprofit status.

Many of these groups also openly partner with the Democratic Socialists of America and foreign networks that sympathize with anti-Western movements. Why are organizations funded to help Americans rebuild their lives spending time promoting socialism and other extreme agendas?

Taxpayer grants and philanthropic dollars would be better spent on efforts to kick-start the lives of down-on-their-luck Americans by encouraging employment and self-sufficiency. In Fort Worth, Texas, for example, the city funds a program that pays homeless residents to clean up litter, offering salaries, benefits and a pathway back into the workforce. Similar programs have taken flight in Cincinnati and Albuquerque, New Mexico, in recent years.

At the very least, taxpayers should not be funding counterproductive activism that is fueling chaos in American cities. Yet Washington continues to underwrite this backward “homeless industrial complex,” which is having heartbreaking but predictable results.

Today, more than 700,000 Americans sleep on the streets on any given night, a more than 30% increase from 2022. In cities that have embraced this ideology — think Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle — homelessness continues to skyrocket even as spending hits record highs. Streets are lined with tents, overdoses are climbing, and small businesses are fleeing downtowns that now resemble open-air asylums.

Mr. Trump is right to want to bring order back to the streets, but more policing is not a silver bullet. Activist networks that disguise political activism as public service are undermining public safety and authentic efforts to shrink the homelessness crisis at every turn. Until these groups are held accountable, the scheme will continue to be a profitable enterprise built on dependence rather than recovery.

• Scott Walter is the president of the Capital Research Center, which released “Infiltrated: The Ideological Capture of Homelessness Advocacy” in October. Bruce Chapman is the founder and board chair of the Discovery Institute, which runs an innovative Fix Homelessness initiative.