But for the Grace of God: A Reality Check on Homelessness and a Critical Look at the July 24, 2025, Executive Order

Gail Marlow
Jul 30
4 min read

By Gail A. Marlow, Executive Director & Co-Founder – Motor City Mitten Mission

*One of our homeless friends who passed away. She was in her 30’s at the time of her death.*

“But for the grace of God, any one of us could be homeless in an unexpected moment.”

None of us are immune. Homelessness can result from sudden illness, job loss, a family crisis,

divorce, or mental health challenges. Many people in our communities are just one emergency away from losing everything. Having a job, a house, a car, or a college education doesn’t make us better than the next person—it simply means we’ve had stability that others haven’t. Many of us are fortunate to have a job, a home, a car, and the ability to enjoy life’s comforts. This message isn’t meant to shame those blessings or instill guilt about financial stability. It’s a reminder to consider those who live without these basic necessities—those who aren’t worried about a second vacation or college tuition, but instead about keeping the lights on, feeding their families, or simply finding a safe place to go to the bathroom or lay their head at night.

A homeless man sleeping under a blanket outside the Emergency Room of a Hospital after being discharged at 2:30 AM (Left). One of our homeless friends that used to live on the Riverfront for many years is now housed through Permanent Supportive Housing (Right).

Homelessness Is Not a Character Flaw

Homelessness is complex. Yes, some people experiencing it struggle with mental illness

or substance use—but those struggles exist in every socioeconomic group. The difference

is in how society treats them. What’s the behavioral difference between the affluent man drinking too much at a country club and the man with the same addiction sitting at a bus stop? The former is socially accepted. The latter is criminalized, marginalized, and ignored.

At the Motor City Mitten Mission, we’ve met countless individuals who were once business

owners, attorneys, musicians, tradesmen, professional athletes—even doctors and

dentists. They didn’t plan to become homeless. Life happened. And the systems we think

exist to help...often don’t.

A homeless man who sleeps regularly in a bus stop savoring his hot meal provided by the Motor City Mitten Mission (Left). One of our MCMM Outreach specialists engaging with a homeless female who has been sleeping on a bench for weeks (Right).

The July 2025 Executive Order: A Dangerous Misunderstanding of the Problem

On July 24, 2025, the White House issued a new Executive Order focused on homelessness,

addiction, and mental health. At first glance, it seems well-intentioned. But when you look

closer—through the lens of lived experience and frontline work—it becomes clear that this

policy was drafted by individuals far removed from the realities of this crisis. People who have never navigated the mental health system. People who have never tried to get clean without insurance or access. People who have never spent a night hungry or cold.

One of our interns summarized the order’s most concerning takeaways:

Top 10 Takeaways from the Executive Order

Widely expand the use of civil commitments — Potentially forcing individuals into psychiatric care without consent.
When psych hospitals are full, send people to prisons — Criminalizing illness and
poverty.
Defund harm reduction programs — Cutting initiatives that reduce overdoses and save lives.
Vague plans around Community Mental Health (CMH) — No clarity on funding, staffing, or accessibility improvements.
Expand drug and mental health courts — Further involving the legal system in health-related issues.
End support for “Housing First” — Discarding a proven model that prioritizes stable housing as a foundation for recovery.
Drug testing for housing assistance recipients — An invasive and discriminatory barrier to aid.
Pursue federal charges for distributing harm reduction supplies — Threatening programs that provide clean syringes and naloxone.
Make most new programs exclusive to women and children — Excluding single men, LGBTQ+ individuals, and others in need.
Share healthcare data of housing recipients with law enforcement — A gross violation of privacy and medical ethics.

Whether you support or oppose elements of this order, its long-term consequences will touch all of us—personally, professionally, or through someone we love. And while it may read well to those unfamiliar with the systems in place, to those of us in the trenches, it reads as a dangerous overreach full of unintended harm.

We Need Smarter Solutions, Not Stricter Control

A more responsible first step would be a deep analysis of existing systems:

Where do they fail?
Where are the gaps, obstacles and bottlenecks?
Where are funds being misused—or not reaching those in need?

*A chronically homeless man suffering from mental illness who sleeps underneath an overpass.*

We need to strengthen what already exists rather than reinvent it with punitive overtones.

We need:

Increased investment in long-term treatment beds.
More transitional housing and wraparound care.
Affordable housing that is in line with income.
Advocacy and empathy, not enforcement and incarceration.

For example, the order suggests institutionalizing more people with mental health or addiction issues. But right now, most psychiatric facilities are overburdened or closed. Treatment programs have waitlists and require insurance many don't have. Even if someone gets help—where do they go after? What supports are in place when they leave?

And now, with proposed cuts to Medicaid and reductions in affordable housing support, the

pipeline is shrinking just as need is growing.

MCMM’s Commitment: Service, Shelter, and Solidarity

Despite these challenges, Motor City Mitten Mission will continue to serve Metro Detroit with compassion and purpose.

In 2025 alone, we have:

Served over 50,000 meals to people facing homelessness.
Helped over 70 families transition from homelessness to permanent housing.
Deliver outreach supplies 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Most recently, we secured a contract with the City of Detroit to operate the After-Hours Emergency Shelter and Emergency Outreach Services Helpline—providing crisis response to Detroiters who need shelter, food, or safety when most systems are

closed.

We Will Not Look Away

We will continue showing up—for those experiencing homelessness, for the working poor, for the unseen, and for the unheard. We’re grateful to every one of you who supports this work. We invite you to stay informed, get involved, and speak up. Our clients deserve better. Our cities deserve smarter policy. And all of us deserve to live in a community where human dignity is a baseline—not a reward.

Motor City Mitten Mission

www.motorcitymittenmission.org

Gail A. Marlow, Executive Director and Co-Founder

gail@motorcitymittenmission.org