A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
One of President Trump's recent executive orders makes it easier to remove homeless people from the streets. His latest action builds on a Supreme Court ruling last year that said cities could punish people for sleeping outside, even if they have nowhere else to go. We're going to talk about this with Mayor Alyia Gaskins of Alexandria, Virginia. She previously managed an affordable housing investment program at the Center for Community Investment and was a senior program officer at Melville Charitable Trust, which is a national philanthropic organization devoted to ending homelessness and also a financial supporter of NPR. Mayor, what was your impression of President Trump's executive order on this?
ALYIA GASKINS: My first reaction was that this executive order is cruel, and it uses a callous command-and-control approach. It requires states and cities like mine to demonstrate aggressive enforcement. It ends support for Housing First policies. It encourages the expanded use of law enforcement, all at a time when we know that the criminalization of homelessness doesn't work. It doesn't create housing. It doesn't treat illness. It doesn't make streets safer, and it doesn't get at the root of the problem, which is the need for more housing. I wish we were focused on solutions instead.
MARTÍNEZ: Right. Would it take local control away from cities like yours?
GASKINS: What it does is it makes the control of how we pursue homelessness and how we work to end homelessness in our community - it puts federal funding at risk. I will also tell you, in Virginia, we receive funding from the Department of Housing and Community Development. As a grantee, we're required to use a Housing First approach. So not only does it make it confusing as to whether or not we'll receive federal funding. It also has implications for our state funding that we use to address homelessness.
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned Housing First. This executive order would make it easier for states and cities to move people into mental health or addiction treatment, including involuntary commitment for people who are considered a risk to themselves and others. So it's a shift from policies that get people into housing first. So why shouldn't people get treatment first instead of housing first?
GASKINS: What we know is that at the end of the day, we want our solutions to be successful and that in many cases, when you force people into treatment, especially against their will, it creates situations that are not sustainable. Oftentimes, they try and remove themselves from that treatment, or as soon as they finish those programs, they're then right back out on the street. Whereas, when we do a Housing First model, we focus on getting people the stability they need so that treatment and other interventions actually work and that they do so in a way where we put people first and they have trust in the process and can build the relationship they need in order to sustain that care and support.
MARTÍNEZ: In your city, Mayor - in Alexandria, Virginia - how would people be affected by this executive order?
GASKINS: Yeah. So the sad thing in our city is that we're actually seeing an 11% drop in homelessness. We've been successful in our interventions because we focus on housing first, because we have invested in more mental health services and supports and because we have a focus on outreach, that does not begin with public safety, but begins with housing, begins with human and community services and coordination across all our departments, as well as partnerships in the community. If this order goes into place, what it means is that those approaches, we may not be able to do, or we might lose the funding to be able to do what is actually working in our community and that people who are on the streets, who we have been working to build relationships with, who we are in the process of getting them the support they need, could potentially be arrested.
MARTÍNEZ: That is Mayor Alyia Gaskins of Alexandria, Virginia. Mayor, thank you very much.
GASKINS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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