Opinion

Trump wants to help 146,000 mentally ill who are homeless. Democrats want to stop him

Administration's approach is trying to take a step forward in care, not a step back

By Elinore McCance-Katz , Devon Kurtz Fox News

Published August 19, 2026 7:00am EDT

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Steve Hilton slams California’s handling of Los Angeles homeless crisis

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton joins ‘Saturday in America’ to discuss the surging Los Angeles homeless population and reports of a state-funded shelter distributing drug paraphernalia.

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Democrats are fighting to stop the Trump administration’s attempt to get 146,000 homeless people with serious mental illness the help they need.

In late July, House and Senate Democrats launched an inquiry accusing the Trump administration of wanting to "return to a time when people with disabilities were denied basic civil rights." But there’s one problem: the system these Democrats are defending is the reason there are so many mentally ill people living in squalor on America’s streets.

Until recently, when it came to helping the mentally ill homeless, states had their hands tied. For decades, government lawyers interpreted the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision extremely broadly, pushing states to offer "community-based care."

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For the seriously mentally ill, this meant independent living in single units where mental health and substance abuse treatment was optional – and often refused. In June, the Department of Justice released a controversial legal opinion that would fix this by revamping federal oversight of state mental healthcare.

A view of a homeless encampment near the Intrepid Museum in New York, N.Y., on July 15, 2026. (John M. Taggart/Fox News Digital)

The Trump administration’s new........

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