A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week is shaking up what critics call the “homeless industrial complex,” defunding controversial programs like “Housing First” and “harm reduction” and redirecting those federal dollars toward treatment and recovery.
Two of the key figures credited with influencing the White House’s change in direction, Dr. Robert Marbut, a homelessness policy expert and former ‘Homeless Czar’ of the Trump administration, and journalist Jonathan Choe, both of the Discovery Institute, joined The Ari Hoffman Show to discuss the seismic impact of this decision and what it means on the ground in cities like Seattle.
Seattle Is "the Worst Major City in America" for Homelessness
President Trump's former Homeless Czar Dr. Robert Marbut discusses how bad the drug and mental health crisis have gotten in Seattle pic.twitter.com/VwCyz8ttPG
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) July 31, 2025
“This is huge,” Dr. Marbut said. “President Trump did more with that one signing than all our efforts over the last couple of decades trying to reverse failed homelessness policies.”
For years, federal money has flowed into Housing First programs, which offer permanent housing without requiring sobriety or treatment, and into harm reduction strategies that critics say amount to government-assisted drug use. “Why would we spend taxpayer money helping people get more drugs?” Marbut asked. “We should be spending that on treatment and recovery.”
Choe joined the conversation live from Seattle’s 12th and Jackson—an epicenter of open-air drug use and street homelessness. “I’m standing across from permanent supportive housing facilities,” Choe reported, “and right in front of them, people are using fentanyl with foil and meth pipes—supplied by the government. This is what Housing First and harm reduction have brought us.”
Choe said the executive order “sent a shockwave through the homeless industrial complex,” rattling the nonprofit groups that have made billions over the last decade off these programs. “The results have been devastating,” he added. “And now those dollars are finally going to be redirected to detox, treatment, and real solutions.”
MUST WATCH: While discussing President Trump's new executive order on homelessness with Dr Robert Marbut & Jonathan Choe, @choeshow was reporting live from the squalor on 14th & Jackson in Seattle.
Look at what failed Democratic policies have done to this once beautiful city pic.twitter.com/R4Add3Nlnz
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) July 31, 2025
Dr. Marbut, who has studied homelessness nationwide and worked in Seattle for years, didn’t mince words about the Emerald City’s ranking. “Seattle is the worst major city in America on a per capita basis when it comes to homelessness,” he said. “Your local elected officials are now choosing to ignore real solutions. The excuses are gone. This is now a political choice.”
He pointed to the dramatic increase in spending over the years. “We’re spending three times as much now as we did a decade ago, and the problem has only gotten worse. When they declared a homelessness emergency, there were 3,000 people on the streets. Now it’s between 15,000 and 30,000 in the region—and that’s likely undercounted.”
Choe warned that many agencies receiving federal funds are now trying to straddle both worlds—telling federal authorities they support treatment while still doubling down on harm reduction locally. “You can’t have both,” he said. “Under this new executive order, people entering permanent supportive housing should be required to go into treatment, stabilize, find a job, and move on. That’s the only way we reintegrate people into society.”
Dr. Marbut noted that the true crisis isn’t one of affordable housing but of addiction and mental illness. “The taxpayers of Seattle and King County have made it easy to get high and hard to get treatment. We need to flip that on its head.”
Choe said the executive order is a validation of the years of dangerous and thankless work he and others have done to expose what’s really happening on the streets. “We’re in an information war,” he said. “A decade ago, mainstream media sold the idea that homelessness was simply about housing. We now know that’s not true—it’s about drug addiction, mental illness, and broken relationships.”
Host Ari Hoffman concluded the segment by praising both guests: “You literally put your lives on the line to save others. Even when people told you you were wrong, you stayed the course. And now lives are going to be saved because of what you did.”
As the conversation closed, Choe and Marbut both agreed—the real work is just beginning. But for the first time in years, there’s real hope for change.
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