To the Malden City Council, Chief Cronin, and Malden PD: 

We as residents of the City of Malden find the language of the executive order “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” signed July 24, 2025, to be deeply concerning. This order paints Americans experiencing homelessness as a threat to public safety, and harm reduction programs as a mask for crime. This is simply not true. 

We know Malden to be a beautiful community of various income levels, and a place where hard work and support from neighbors can lift a family from horrific circumstances into stability, and even comfort. We call upon the City Council and Malden Police Department to publicly affirm that homelessness will not be criminalized in Malden. 

We ask the Council and Police Department to remember that Executive Orders are not laws. We remind you that our city is home to wonderful services like Malden Overcoming Addiction, the Malden Warming Center, Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and many other organizations that believe in taking care of each other. We are a city with so many success stories! Families who have moved from streets to shelters to transitional housing to their own apartments. Warming Center guests who secure housing and become volunteers. None of this is possible if we start to penalize anyone who falls on hard times. Residents of Malden are doing the work to help see that unhoused neighbors don’t fall through the cracks, and we need a promise from the City to let that work continue. 

We call for both the Malden City Council and the Malden Police Department to affirm that homelessness is not and will not be criminalized in Malden.

POVERTY IS PUNISHMENT ENOUGH!