MOSSA Act Prioritizes Civil Commitment and Ties Housing Aid to Mandatory Treatment

The “Make Our Streets Safe Again Act” (MOSSA Act) is a major overhaul of how the federal government approaches homelessness, addiction, and mental illness on the streets. This bill directs the Attorney General (AG) and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to immediately reverse course on several policies, focusing heavily on moving people off the streets and into mandatory treatment, often via civil commitment.

The Shift to Mandatory Treatment

The core of the MOSSA Act is a push to remove legal barriers to involuntary treatment. The AG and HHS must work to reverse court decisions and end agreements (known as consent decrees) that currently limit the use of civil commitment for individuals who are seriously mentally ill, dangerous to themselves or others, or simply unable to care for themselves while living on the streets. For the average person, this means state and local governments would have an easier path to legally mandate treatment in a facility for unhoused individuals who are currently resistant to voluntary care. The bill also explicitly requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to condition federal housing and homelessness aid on individuals with substance use disorder or serious mental illness actually using available treatment services. If you’re a person struggling with addiction or mental illness and relying on federal housing assistance, this bill makes treatment a requirement to keep your roof over your head, a significant change from current voluntary models.

Prioritizing Public Order Over Harm Reduction

This legislation uses federal grant money to incentivize local governments to crack down on visible street disorder. The AG, HHS, HUD, and the Department of Transportation must prioritize discretionary grants for states and cities that actively enforce bans on things like open drug use, urban camping, and squatting. Furthermore, the bill takes a direct shot at certain public health approaches: the HHS Secretary must ensure that grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) only fund "evidence-based programs" and specifically should not fund "harm reduction" or "safe consumption" efforts if they are deemed to encourage illegal drug use. For local service providers currently running needle exchange programs or similar efforts, this could mean a significant loss of federal funding, forcing them to pivot or shut down.

New Data Sharing and Accountability for Housing Providers

The MOSSA Act introduces new accountability measures for organizations receiving federal homelessness and transitional living grants. It demands that HHS and HUD stop supporting “housing first” policies that don't prioritize treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency. This is a big deal, as “housing first” has been the dominant federal strategy for years. On top of that, HUD, in consultation with the AG, can require recipients of federal funding to collect specific health information from aid recipients and share that data with law enforcement when legally allowed. If you're a case worker or a shelter director, this means new health data collection requirements and the potential obligation to hand over sensitive client information to police, which could make vulnerable people even more hesitant to seek help in the first place. Finally, HUD must implement new rules to ensure sex offenders receiving homelessness assistance are not housed with unrelated children, and it gives the AG power to review and potentially freeze funding for housing aid recipients who allow illegal drug use or run drug injection sites on their property.