Local officials and advocates for the homeless are fearful that President Trump will take draconian action against homeless people, including pushing them into detention camps, when Los Angeles hosts the Olympic Games in 2028.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Trump has appointed himself head of an Olympics task force and has seized control of local policing in Washington, D.C., declaring that homeless people will be given places to stay \u201cFAR from the Capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on everything that has happened so far … I think you would have to be irrational not to worry about a worst case scenario [during the Games], where federal troops are effectively forcing poor people on the street to relocate to what is essentially a detention center somewhere out of sight,\u201d said Gary Blasi, a professor emeritus at UCLA School of Law and a leading homelessness researcher. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that for now, D.C. police and federal agents will clear homeless encampments in the capital and give people the option of accepting shelter beds and services or facing fines and jail time. The administration, she said, is also exploring how it can move homeless people far from the city. <\/p>\n
The White House did not answer questions about whether it has a plan to address homelessness in L.A. in preparation for the Olympics. But White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, \u201cThe people of Los Angeles would benefit tremendously if local officials followed President Trump\u2019s lead to make the city safe and beautiful, especially as they prepare to welcome 15 million people from around the world as the Olympics\u2019 host city.\u201d<\/p>\n
When hosting the Olympics, local officials typically try to present the best image of their city, which can include refurbishing landmarks and sports venues or cleaning up areas where homeless people congregate. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe eyes of the world will be on Los Angeles,\u201d and officials don\u2019t want \u201cpeople coming to the city and see this visual problem manifest right in front of them,\u201d said Benjamin F. Henwood, director of USC\u2019s Homelessness Policy Research Institute. <\/p>\n
French authorities bused homeless people out of Paris before the 2024 Games, and in 1984, the Los Angeles Police Department used mounted horse patrols to scatter homeless people into less visible areas of downtown.<\/p>\n
This time, L.A. city and county officials said they will not deviate from their efforts to place homeless people in interim and permanent housing locally.<\/p>\n
Last year, in an interview with The Times, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that unlike during previous Olympics, she would not bus homeless people out of the city and instead would focus on \u201chousing people first.\u201d <\/p>\n
Similarly, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors has <\/a>ordered county staffers to develop an encampment plan for upcoming sporting events, including the 2026 World Cup and the Olympics, that will emphasize permanent housing solutions.<\/p>\n But the supervisors also noted that encampments near Olympic venues will need to be \u201caddressed,\u201d in part to \u201cestablish adequate security perimeters.\u201d <\/p>\n In D.C., in addition to taking over the city police department, Trump has deployed the National Guard to, as he put it, \u201creestablish law and order.\u201d He has threatened to resend the Guard and the military to the Los Angeles area, where they were stationed this summer during federal immigration raids, if needed to maintain safety during the Olympics.<\/p>\n In a statement, Supervisor Janice Hahn said that federalizing local law enforcement and sending the U.S. military to American cities is \u201cwhat tyrants do.\u201d She also noted that the Trump administration has cut social safety net programs and is seeking to withdraw support for policies that prioritize placing homeless people in permanent housing before addressing other issues such as substance abuse and mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the President is doing in DC should concern everyone,\u201d Hahn said. \u201cIf he really wants to solve homelessness, he needs to get us the resources we need to get people housed and keep them housed.\u201d<\/p>\n Nithya Raman, chair of the L.A. City Council\u2019s housing and homelessness committee, said in a statement that given the region\u2019s homelessness crisis, \u201cthe repercussions of similar actions as they are threatening in DC would be staggering.\u201d <\/p>\n In her own statement, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said that despite the Trump administration\u2019s plan of \u201cdehumanization,\u201d the county \u201cwill keep doing what\u2019s right \u2014 focusing on humane, lasting solutions to homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n Katie Hill, a former Democratic member of Congress who now runs Union Station Homeless Services, said she fears the Trump administration is working on \u201cmass institutionalization of some kind\u201d for homeless people during the Games, similar to federal immigration detention facilities, where there have been reports of inhumane conditions<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t care about the rules or the norms,\u201d Hill said of Trump. \u201cThere is a lot of federal facilities and land that they could use potentially as a detention facility.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike D.C., which is a federal district where the president holds special powers, Blasi said that in Los Angeles, the federal government cannot legally lock up people for living on the streets but could \u201cmake life so miserable for unhoused people\u201d that there are no other options besides \u201ca camp somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Blasi said the Trump administration could try to invoke emergency laws to incarcerate people but doubted that courts would approve.<\/p>\n Since she was elected in 2022, Bass has made homelessness her signature issue. In her marquee Inside Safe program, before an encampment is cleared, residents are all offered housing and services, which are voluntary, with no fines or jail time if the person rejects the help, said Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl. <\/p>\n Seidl said the mayor is \u201claser-focused on addressing homelessness through a proven comprehensive strategy\u201d and that \u201cthis is progress she would\u2019ve made regardless of the Games.\u201d<\/p>\n Homelessness in both the city and county has dropped in the last two years, particularly the number of people who are unsheltered, which has fallen 14% in the county and nearly 18% in the city since 2023, data show. About 47,000 people live on the streets in L.A. County.<\/p>\n Eric Sheehan, a member of NOlympics, which opposes holding the Olympics in L.A., said he is concerned about how the Trump administration will act during the Games. But he said the federal approach to homelessness may not differ much from what local officials are already doing. <\/p>\n Sheehan pointed to the city of Los Angeles\u2019 no sleeping zones, encampment cleanups monitored by police and interim housing he characterized as jail-like.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there is a version of this Olympics that doesn\u2019t hurt Angelenos,\u201d Sheehan said. <\/p>\n Amy Turk, chief executive of the Downtown Women\u2019s Center, said that using the police and military to address homelessness is \u201can expensive intervention that is just moving someone from one place to another place.\u201d She is particularly concerned about the impact on people fleeing domestic violence. <\/p>\n To mitigate the damage the Trump administration could do, Turk said it\u2019s important for nonprofits like hers to keep working to find people permanent housing and services.<\/p>\n One hurdle is funding. <\/p>\n