In Washington, D.C., a bombshell investigation has just dropped: the Infiltrated report showing how radical organizations have embedded themselves within homelessness advocacy groups - sharing infrastructure, donors, ideology and tactics. Released amid news that homelessness has climbed to its highest level in U.S. history, even after a tripling of public spending, it reveals that the Homelessness Industrial Complex (HIC) - a bloated network of nonprofits and activists - have hijacked our nation's homeless system.
They've built an empire of corruption wrapped in "evidence-based" slogans that shield political agendas and bloated paychecks at the expense of the people it was purportedly helping. The Infiltrated report confirms that the HIC postures itself as defenders of compassion but are, in truth, the greatest exploiters of America's homeless. It exposes how it seized power, who is bankrolling it, and its dependence on suffering to further entrench power.
The HIC's rise traces back to a well-meaning but flawed pivot in homeless policy. In 2013, the Obama administration enshrined Housing First as federal doctrine, promising to end homelessness in a decade by providing unconditional housing - without addressing the often-accompanying diseases of mental illness and addiction. While homelessness spending rose, the HIC expanded rapidly, taking in ever-larger shares of public funding, even as outcomes worsened.
The Supreme Court's Grants Pass v. Johnson case further exposed the lie at the heart of the HIC. Over 700 nonprofits that raked in a combined $2.9 billion in government grants - including the National Homelessness Law Center and Southern Poverty Law Center - fought to normalize encampments, claiming enforcement of anti-camping laws amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment."
Private philanthropy amplified this. Foundations like Ford, Robert Wood Johnson, and Gates pour billions into Housing First and radical equity initiatives. Donor-advised funds enable anonymous giving to advocacy. Groups like Funders Together to End Homelessness push "upstream causes" like reparations, diverting sources from direct aid.
Donors thought they were funding help but were instead subsidizing lawsuits that prevented the homeless from receiving the support needed to heal, grow, and thrive. Meanwhile, HIC organizations - flush with taxpayer and donor funds - were fighting to maintain chaos versus developing solutions. The ideological underbelly was even deeper than most could imagine.
An earlier Capital Research Center report, Marching Toward Violence, found extensive overlap between homelessness coalitions and extremist groups - pro-Hamas organizations, Marxist networks, and anarchist alliances - all sharing infrastructure, rhetoric, and sometimes even funding streams. Groups like the Western Regional Advocacy Project glorify violent fugitives such as Assata Shakur, while others like the Autonomous Tenants Union Network openly reject collaboration with mainstream nonprofits to preserve "revolutionary independence."
They succeeded in hijacking the language of compassion to wage a political war against law enforcement, property rights, and even the concept of personal responsibility. And the result is plain to see. Billions spent, streets worse than ever, and a 77% increase in the death rate amongst the homeless under the banner of "justice."
For too long, the HIC has thrived in the shadows, remaining untouchable, unaccountable, and unchallenged. Finally, the sunlight this report provides pierces the darkness and exposes the rot beneath the rhetoric.
President Donald Trump's executive order
to reprioritize mental health and substance use disorder treatment, and to
mandate treatment when necessary, marks a long-overdue correction.
Their all-out resistance to change to the status quo,
including a recently-filed lawsuit,
lays bare how firmly the HIC entrenched itself - and how threatened it is by
the prospect of accountability.
But the homeless can no longer wait for accountability.
Public funding must be tied to measurable outcomes such as real reductions in homelessness. Grants must be audited to expose the flow of dollars into radical political activism. And taxpayer funding must be redirected from lobbying and litigation to recovery, treatment, and rehabilitation.
True compassion restores dignity; it demands both mercy and
order. Americans deserve safe streets, and the homeless deserve a real path to
healing, not to be used as pawns in politics.
The light has been turned on. The truth is visible. It is now up to us to ensure that darkness does not survive.
Michele
Steeb
is the founder of Free Up Foundation and author of Answers
Behind the RED DOOR: Battling the Homeless Epidemic,
based on her 13 years as CEO of Northern California's largest program for
homeless women and children. She is a Visiting Fellow with the Discovery
Institute's Fix Homelessness Initiative.
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