Link Between Antifa and Homelessness Nonprofits | Jonathan Choe

Jan 3, 2026

Jonathan Choe, a reporter and senior journalism fellow, shares his insights on the troubling connections between Antifa and homelessness nonprofits. He reveals how some organizations have turned into profitable ventures while failing to truly help the homeless. Choe discusses the concerning trend of giving out harmful drug paraphernalia instead of support, and highlights an alarming infiltration of Antifa ideology within the sector. His emphasis on a treatment-first approach underlines the need for genuine reform in tackling the homelessness crisis.

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INSIGHT

Federal Shift To Treatment-First Funding

The Trump administration is shifting federal homeless funding from housing-first to treatment-first programs.
Jonathan Choe says funds will now target detox, treatment, and mental-health services instead of unconditional housing.

ADVICE

Use Grants To Enforce Program Accountability

Require nonprofits to prove programs focus on treatment and recovery when applying for federal grants.
Use grant accountability to shift funds toward effective, treatment-centered services.

INSIGHT

Independent Media Changed The Conversation

Independent journalists helped shift the national narrative by spotlighting street-level chaos and root causes.
Choe credits alternative media with forcing public debate about failed housing-first policies.

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“I’m seeing crime, chaos, and death on the streets of America. ... The homeless are being used. And Antifa, the far left activists, they want to keep the tent encampments on America’s streets to show that capitalism isn’t working,” said Jonathan Choe, a reporter for Turning Point USA’s Frontlines and a senior journalism fellow at the Discovery Institute.

At Turning Point USA’s AmFest conference, I sat down with Choe to discuss his investigations into Antifa and the homelessness epidemic in America.

While some nonprofits are really helping people, Choe said, he believes a sizable portion of the sector has become a multi-billion-dollar “cash cow” of grift and counterproductive aid.

“For years now, the so-called experts of the medical community—instead of getting people into treatment and recovery—have been giving away free meth pipes, fentanyl foil,” he said.

In 2025, he and several of his colleagues worked on a joint study by the Capital Research Center and the Discovery Institute that revealed a notable intersection between Antifa and the homelessness nonprofit space, he said.

Antifa members have embedded in the homelessness nonprofit sector and many of them have day jobs in the space, he said.

“A lot of [Antifa’s] ideas to bring communism, Marxism, to destabilize America, to usher in a brand new communist revolution that’s part of the homeless industrial complex now,” he said.

In October 2025, Choe and other journalists, including Andy Ngo, participated in a White House roundtable to share their knowledge about Antifa with President Donald Trump.

A month earlier, Trump had signed an executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. And in July 2025, he signed another order called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” that takes a more aggressive treatment-first instead of housing-first approach to homelessness.

Many states, including Washington and California, are now suing the Trump administration.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.