War on the Homeless: Immigrants or the Poor, This Country Seems to Have No Place for Them

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“The Wretched of the Earth” is the title of a famous book by Frantz Fanon about the impact of colonialism in Africa.
Fanon examines how colonization affects the psyche of the colonized, creating inferiority complexes, violence, and dehumanization.

I mention this because what is happening in the U.S. today bears some resemblance—though to a different extent.
The Trump administration is waging a war against the most dispossessed. I say this in light of the termination of social programs for those at the bottom of the wealth pyramid.

The fight against immigrants is just one visible element of the agenda. It doesn’t matter whether someone contributes to society economically or culturally—“You’re leaving,” they seem to say, and in the most humiliating way possible.

Their purported battle over tariffs is causing food prices to rise rapidly. Now, their plans to “erase” the homeless population from this country could be disastrous.
A country that is generating more poverty, more racial conflict, and enacting policies that benefit only a few will inevitably increase the number of people without resources, jobs, or housing.

As President Donald Trump moves forward with a nationwide purge of homeless people from America’s streets, his administration is also moving to end a program that has helped many in need find permanent housing.

The White House’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget includes the elimination of a Department of Housing and Urban Development program known as Continuum of Care, which has helped cities across the country address—or in some cases nearly eliminate—homelessness.
To receive federal funds, cities are required to adopt community-wide plans to end homelessness, with the goal of moving people from the streets into shelters, and ultimately into stable housing.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness describes Continuum of Care as “the federal government’s key vehicle for distributing homelessness funds.”

As The Washington Post reports, Dallas has become a model for the program’s effectiveness. Other cities—such as San Bernardino, California, and Montgomery County, Maryland—have used Continuum of Care to substantially reduce homelessness.

However, the White House budget, unveiled in May, proposes eliminating Continuum of Care and redirecting its resources to the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program.

This program emphasizes shelters and transitional housing, as well as mental health and substance abuse counseling, rather than the “Housing First” model.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness warns that the administration’s plan to consolidate programs “would place thousands of projects and the hundreds of thousands of people they serve at risk.”

The Alliance estimates that the proposal would effectively end funding for permanent supportive housing for 170,000 residents—and could increase the number of homeless people in the U.S. by 36%.