Jeff Olivet is a senior adviser at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and was executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness from 2022 to 2025.
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What Works To Address Homelessness
We don’t lack tools to support people. We lack the political will to scale what works.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION announced in March an agreement between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Justice that would make it easier to place homeless veterans under conservatorship. This means that VA attorneys can now be appointed as special assistant U.S. attorneys who have the power to initiate guardianship for homeless veterans and increase involuntary hospitalization for those with mental illnesses.
While people struggling with mental illness and addiction need more support, this is not the way to provide it.