Why is Donald Trump trying to make thousands homeless in California? | Opinion

In Sacramento County, about 13,000 families have a roof over their heads thanks to financial help from a long-standing federal program. That number is also about 13,000 in Fresno County and 4,980 in Stanislaus County.

Come the next federal budget in October, President Donald Trump proposes eliminating this program and replacing it with a state effort that does not currently exist. Perhaps a million of California’s most cash-strapped residents have their housing in question.

When somebody who cannot afford market-rate rent loses outside help, there is one inevitable and unacceptable outcome: homelessness.

For a president who has been sharply critical of California’s handling of the ongoing homeless crisis, it’s appalling for Trump’s administration to make things even worse.

Congress has been debating tax cuts favoring the wealthy that would result in trillions of dollars in new deficit spending. And now Trump wants to stick it yet again to the most financially desperate Americans who are struggling in today’s economy.

The president’s proposal is just that, a proposal that awaits a preoccupied Congress.

It suggests that a limited, but important stream of federal money supporting local affordable housing programs is at risk, something that every community in California should be watching. Trump was elected with the support of voters who believed he was better for the economy, based on polls that also showed working-class voters without college degrees breaking for Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris.

But now, in California, Trump’s policies could toss more Californians onto the streets.

To put the numbers in perspective, consider that an estimated 4,000 residents are living outside somewhere in Sacramento County on any given night. About six times this population is now off the streets because they have federal help with their rent.

Known for years as the Section 8 housing program, the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program now subsidizes about half a million housing units in California, including about 2,500 in San Luis Obispo County and 2,800 in Merced County. Elsewhere, Los Angeles County has more than 75,000 subsidized units and San Francisco has more than 15,000.

Typically, local housing authorities help to match qualified low-income applicants with landlords willing to participate in the program and accept rental payments aimed to replicate local market rates. Tenants pay 30% of their income toward rent and utilities.

If anything, the existing shortcomings of the program have contributed to homelessness in California. Federal help has not kept up with increases in market rent (up 55% in just four years in Sacramento County, as one example).

Nationwide, 2.3 million Americans depend on this program. Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, however, “does not request funding” for this program in the coming fiscal year. Instead, it envisions a new “State Rental Assistance Program.” Overall, states would receive less money than they do now, under a funding distribution formula that nobody has yet to determine. And the goal would be to “incentivize self-sufficiency,” which is code for disqualifying somebody who isn’t making enough money to pay market rent.

No assistance program is perfect and above fine-tuning to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely to the maximum benefit. But to propose a nationwide dismantling of a key housing program in a matter of months is beyond the pale. And it speaks to some horrible spending priorities of this administration.

The president’s recent decision to send members of the United States military to Los Angeles, site of immigration protests, is estimated to cost $134 million. That’s enough money to provide affordable housing to 13,000 Sacramento County families for about nine months. Which federal support is truly what California needs?

The ongoing battle against homelessness is entering an important phase in California. Courts, rightly or wrongly, have given local governments more discretion to deal with encampments. Neither state nor federal support is expected at peak levels going forward. We’re going to have to get smarter about every aspect of this problem — shelters, treatment, outreach and permanent housing.

California isn’t uniquely in the crosshairs here. Trump’s misguided housing assistance proposal is nationwide. His idea represents a huge step backwards to reducing homelessness in this state. Congress can’t let him send housing policy in the wrong direction.

This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Why is Donald Trump trying to make thousands homeless in California? | Opinion."