Connecticut leaders are promising to ignore President Donald Trump’s “cruel” executive order on homelessness, which shifts money from prevention efforts in favor of removing – and even institutionalizing – people living on the streets.

The White House said the move is about public safety. But housing advocates said Trump’s order will “criminalize” homelessness and only make the crisis worse.

Take a walk through Bridgeport, and it’s easy to find makeshift homes for those who have nowhere else to go.

Sal Smith often has to sleep on a park bench.

“It is like a nightmare,” he said.

Smith is not alone. Homelessness has jumped for four straight years in Connecticut, now reaching 3,735 people, according to the January 2025 Point-in-Time Count.

“It messes with your head,” Smith said. “You’re lost.”

Trump wants cities like Bridgeport to remove people from the streets, claiming “the overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition or both.”

A new executive order encourages local governments to shift “homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment.”

It also redirects federal funding to communities that ban “urban squatting,” crack down on open drug use and involuntarily commit “individuals who are a danger to themselves or others.”

Trump called it a common-sense approach.

“Right outside, we’ve got some tents and I’m getting rid of them right now,” he said. “You can’t do that – especially in Washington, D.C. I talk to the mayor about it all the time. I say, ‘You’ve got the get rid of the tents.’”

The executive order follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing communities to ticket people for sleeping outside.

But on Monday, Connecticut leaders called the order a “war on the homeless.”

“The executive order would effectively criminalize homelessness and reduce support for incredibly effective programs that use a ‘Housing First’ model,” said Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services commissioner Nancy Navarretta. “Lessons from history, science and basic human compassion have been rejected.”

Trump’s order cuts funding for Housing First programs that place people in permanent housing before they receive substance abuse treatment.

Advocates said, despite Trump’s claims, most people experiencing homelessness are clean, sober and working. Jennifer Paradis’ parents lost their home after sinking their life savings into her sister’s medical bills.

“My high school was a series of couches and comforters on the floor, like a mattress,” she said.

One thing both sides agree on? The need for more housing.

“This is about real people, real lives and where they stand,” said Rep. John Larson (D-Hartford). “We’re not going to throw them out in the cold. They’re not going to be evicted and they’re going to have housing.”

But actually building that housing is a challenge.

Connecticut needs up to 150,000 more units, according to a study by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. But Gov. Ned Lamont just vetoed a controversial zoning reform law amid fierce protests over “Fair Share” housing quotas for each community.

Lamont has been negotiating a new version that he hopes lawmakers can vote on in a special session next month.

“I want a bill that we can all get behind,” he told reporters on Monday. “We’re working on that every day, and we're going to get a really good housing bill that has the support of all the people in this room, and making sure we make a difference.”

But that may be wishful thinking. A coalition of eight housing groups said Monday that they can only support the law that Lamont already vetoed.

“We appreciate Gov. Lamont’s words but will not be heartened until we see him act,” the statement said. “We cannot address homelessness without housing and we cannot build enough housing until we start to tear down the red tape and regulatory barriers purposefully erected by many local officials who choose not to permit home construction in their towns. We urge that the Governor act to seek passage of – and then to sign – a bill substantially the same as HB 5002.”