A July 24 executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” addresses homelessness and associated “public safety threats” by directing state and local governments to loosen the regulations around civil commitment, a legal process by which an individual is committed to an institution or outpatient treatment against their wishes, and by re-allocating federal funding away from housing-first and and harm-reduction programs and towards policing, court options and institutionalization.
The order is light on details around how stepped-up law enforcement and civil commitment should work – and how to fund the healthcare expansion needed to meet increased demand for institutionalization – but it does direct the U.S. Attorney General to provide states and local governments with technical advice and grant funding to achieve “maximally flexible civil commitment, institutional treatment, and ‘step-down’ treatment standards” for unhoused persons who are deemed a danger to themselves or others.
The order also directs “available funding” to drug courts and mental health courts – specialized court programs that divert eligible defendants from traditional criminal proceedings into judicially supervised treatment.
Last month, we published the article “‘Ripe for abuse’: Executive order on homelessness raises civil rights red flags” in which local leaders including State Rep. Marc Snyder (D-Manitou Springs) expressed concern over the order’s defunding of housing first and harm reduction programs without federal funding guarantees for the facilities and services needed to make the new strategy successful. They also noted the order’s lack of clear standards for involuntary commitment and the resulting potential for civil rights violations.
However, Congressional Representative Jeff Crank (R-CO5) is in favor of the order, citing the failures of previous strategies to stop the rising rate of homelessness.
“Unfortunately, Colorado Springs is no stranger to homelessness,” Crank said in a statement emailed to the Bulletin. “The Trump administration is working diligently to combat homelessness on our streets, including for our veteran population. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the number of persons living on the streets on a single night was the highest on record. And, unfortunately, the majority of these people are either addicted to a substance or have a mental health condition. This administration will be shifting the homeless population into long-term treatment to help these individuals.”
The statistic Crank cited about the highest number of persons living on the streets on a single night comes from the Point in Time (PIT) count, a yearly, one-night survey administered in January that is designed to give a snapshot of homelessness in a specific area. The data is submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
As Crank noted, the 2024 national PIT count report showed the highest levels of homelessness ever recorded since data collection began in 2007. It tallied 771,480 people experiencing homelessness, up 18% from 2023, and up nearly 33% from pre-pandemic levels.
The national data for the 2025 PIT count is not yet publicly available, but the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care – which coordinates the PIT count locally – released their 2025 findings in July noting showing there were 599 more people counted in the Pikes Peak region this year over last year for a total of 1,745 persons counted.
The report said the increase is “partially reflective of a significantly increased PIT surveying effort this year, especially for those unsheltered, but also likely reflective of an overall increase in people experiencing homelessness.”
The report also stated that “PIT results are widely understood to be an undercount due to challenges reaching key populations, such as victims fleeing domestic violence, people living in vehicles, and homeless youth” and that 518 more year-round emergency shelter or transitional housing beds are needed in the region to shelter every person counted as experiencing homelessness on Jan. 26, 2025.
While the data clearly shows homelessness is rising both nationally and locally, it is less clear that mental health and substance use are driving the trend.
The 2024 national report said, “Several factors likely contributed to this historically high number. Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits. Additional public health crises, natural disasters that displaced people from their homes, rising numbers of people immigrating to the U.S., and the end to homelessness prevention programs put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the end of the expanded child tax credit, have exacerbated this already stressed system.”
Mental health and substance use overdoses are considered public health crises by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The overdose crisis is linked closely to opioids.
The national data from 2024 showed that while overall homelessness increased 18%, this was disproportionately families with children; Between 2023 and 2024, children (under the age of 18) were the age group that experienced the largest uptick in homelessness – an increase of 33%.
Aimee Cox, Chief Housing Officer with the City of Colorado Springs, said, “We are aware of the order and feel the City is in full compliance. We enforce the City’s no camping ordinance and do not fund safe injection sites. Once funds become available or are redirected, we will evaluate the City’s options.”
She declined to comment on how mental health and substance use intersect with the increase in homelessness in the Pikes Peak Region. She also declined to comment on potential benefits or concerns around the order.
Both the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado Springs Police Department declined to comment on the order or how it may be enforced locally.
Veteran programs working
Veterans were the only population to report continued declines in homelessness in the 2024 national PIT count report. “Between 2023 and 2024, the number of veterans experiencing homelessness declined by 8%, or 2,692 fewer veterans,” the report states. “The number of veterans experiencing homelessness has declined by 55% since data collection about veteran homelessness began in 2009 … These declines are the result of targeted and sustained funding to reduce veteran homelessness.”
The PPCoC 2025 PIT count tallied 195 veterans making up 11% of the total homeless population counted. Veterans make up about 17% of Colorado Springs’ general population, according to the City of Colorado Springs.
Crank told the Bulletin, “[Veterans Administration] Secretary Doug Collins announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs will be providing $818 million in grants to 235 organizations across the country to help veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. I am proud to see an administration working for the American people, taking care of those struggling on our streets.”
