OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:41 AM – Wednesday, August 13, 2025
The White House has announced on Tuesday that homeless individuals living in Washington, D.C., will potentially be jailed if they refuse admission into a homeless shelter.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the announcement amid President Donald Trump’s temporary federal takeover of the city, which was enacted to crack down on violent crime and homeless encampments in the nation’s capital.
“Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time,” Leavitt told reporters.
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Leavitt went on to state that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) will clear the homeless encampments utilizing “pre-existing laws that are already on the books.”
“Seventy homeless encampments have been removed by the U.S. Park Police,” Leavitt stated. “There are only two homeless encampments remaining in D.C. federal parks under the National Park Service’s jurisdiction, and the removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week.”
Leavitt reiterated that the homeless individuals could go to “homeless shelters, for addiction and mental health services, or jail if they refuse, are the options on the table right now.”
Homelessness reached an all-time high of over 771,000 individuals according to a 2024 homelessness report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Washington, D.C., has the highest prevalence of homelessness compared to all U.S. states at a rate of 83 homeless people for every 100,000 people, according to HUD data.
The homeless population in D.C. grew 14.1% in 2024, with the population being estimated at 5,616, making it the city with the 16th largest homeless population in the United States. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Denver are among the top five cities with the largest homeless populations in the United States.
Meanwhile, President Trump also deployed 800 National Guard troops as part of the effort to remove “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, and drugged-out maniacs.”
The president stated that crime in the nation’s capital is “out of control” as “gang members” and “thugs” continue to “randomly attack, mug, maim, and shoot innocent citizens.”
The crackdown was seemingly sparked by the recent attack on Edward Coristine, a Department of Government Efficiency employee who was recently beaten and bloodied in D.C. during an attempted carjacking.
“We have a capital that’s very unsafe, you know, we just almost lost a young man, beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him,” Trump stated, referencing Coristine.
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