President Donald Trump has ordered D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to “clean up” homeless camps near the White House and the State Department—or have the federal government do it for her.
“We have notified the Mayor of Washington, D.C., that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“If she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her!” he added.
Trump is planning an executive order to enforce the clearing of homeless camps in the District of Columbia, increase penalties for petty and violent crimes, and to clean graffiti, according to the Washington Post.
He has previously proposed banning homeless camps in big cities and moving them to the outer reaches with rehabilitation orders or jail sentences for those who refuse.
Trump has often criticized how D.C. is run.
Last month he threatened to get the federal government to “take over” D.C., and there are fears he could take over the city’s police force in a power grab.
Mayor Bowser and Trump have repeatedly and personally clashed in the past.
Trump called her “incompetent” after she ordered a Black Lives Matter sign to be painted in large yellow letters outside the White House in 2020, which became a prominent national symbol against his administration.
Washington has one of the largest homeless populations in the U.S., twice the national average, which charities say is caused by inadequate affordable housing, low wages, and the higher cost of living.
Homeless encampments are regularly scheduled for clearing by the district, but several of these scheduled cleanups have recently been delayed, perhaps offering a clue as to why Trump has chosen to highlight this issue now.
D.C.’s official cleanup schedule shows that nearly a dozen have been canceled or rescheduled due to emergency weather conditions, including two near the State Department building.
There appear to be no scheduled cleanups near the White House.
About 4,000 people are homeless in the capital, according to the most recent count by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, including 1,656 minors and 539 families.
Homelessness rose by 14 percent in the district between 2023 and 2024, although it has declined overall since 2020.
The issue disproportionately affects African American residents, who make up 48 percent of the D.C. population but comprise 88 per cent of the number of homeless adults.
