CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ky.org
VOCAL-KY RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER TO EXPAND THE TICKETING AND ARRESTING OF PEOPLE UNABLE TO AFFORD HOUSING
LOUISVILLE, K.Y. — Yesterday, the Trump administration issued the “Ending Vagrancy and Restoring Order” executive order that could deny funding to cities unless they ticket and arrest homeless people, and open the door to national rounds of people sleeping on streets and in public who have nowhere to go.
“This executive order doesn’t make me feel any safer. If anything, it’ll only put me more at risk if I end up back on the streets,” said Christina Folsom, leader of VOCAL-KY and formerly unhoused Louisvillian who spent nine years living on streets and in local homeless encampments. “The only thing that helped me get stable was healthcare and supportive housing – not forced treatment or police. I know I’m not alone when I say this executive order is bad news, and we need Kentucky lawmakers to stand up to Trump now more than ever.”
BACKGROUND:
Our country has a housing crisis – more people are experiencing homelessness now than in the past few decades. High housing costs, the high cost of living and low wages are fueling this crisis. This executive order – on top of billions in cuts to healthcare, food and basic government assistance through the recently passed “big beautiful bill” – paired with laws that make homelessness illegal, will only make America’s housing crisis worse. Americans will lose what little support they get, more people will be forced to live on the streets, affordable care will be impossible to find, and people will either die, get trapped in our broken prison system or forced into government run detention camps.
Only housing can solve homelessness. Only healthcare can solve our mental health crisis. Instead of investing in solutions, President Trump and the GOP are cutting vital programs, making it illegal to be homeless and poor, while giving massive tax breaks to billionaires.
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