LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump has lumped in homelessness to what he calls out-of-control crime and blight. Over the past week, the White House says more than 40 homeless encampments in Washington, D.C., have been cleared out. But as NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports, advocates say that could make it even harder to eventually get people housed.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC NOISE)
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Outside a homeless services office in Northwest D.C. yesterday afternoon, 35-year-old Temitope Tysijenlusi (ph) was panicking. He'd stored his belongings here a few days ago, after federal agents told him and his girlfriend to leave a tent encampment not far away. Now word was going around that federal officers were about to show up here. His message for President Trump?
TEMITOPE TYSIJENLUSI: If you're trying to make it better, you're not making it better. You're making it worse. You're making people's mental health worse. You're making people - I have anxiety problems. I'm saying - I have panic attacks, so - like, I don't know what to do. I just got to figure it out.
LUDDEN: Tysijenlusi had come back to collect his black roller, blue duffel and a shoulder bag, but wasn't sure where he would go.
TYSIJENLUSI: The shelter - it's like, you know, there's a lot going on in shelters. There's a lot going on - people stealing from each other. You know, people fighting each other for little things.
LUDDEN: The encampment clearings over the past week have been rushed and chaotic, and it's not clear where the people displaced have gone. Homeless service providers say the city opened more temporary shelter beds, and some people are there. Others are in hotels paid for by community members. But they say many are likely choosing to stay outside, evading the growing number of authorities looking for them. Jesse Rabinowitz with the National Homelessness Law Center worries people have lost vital documents and may now be harder for outreach workers to connect with.
JESSE RABINOWITZ: There's no plan. If there were a plan, this wouldn't have happened because we know that displacing people from their encampments and from where they're sleeping actually makes it harder to solve homelessness.
LUDDEN: Advocates also say it's wrong to pin crime on homeless people, who are far more likely to be victims of it. At a press conference Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser seemed to grow frustrated with reporters' questions about the federal search. You're logical people who want this to make sense, she said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MURIEL BOWSER: This doesn't make sense. You know that. The question is really not for us. It's for why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans. That's the question.
LUDDEN: Her question comes as the Trump administration has called up hundreds of additional National Guard troops from several states. Their leaders say they'll combat crime, restore cleanliness and law and order.
Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHRIS JOSS' "TUNE DOWN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
