‘Homeless people need help, not punishment’: Pressure mounts to repeal Vagrancy Act

'Clearly the act is not fit for purpose – it represents social attitudes two hundred years out of date and must be repealed as soon as possible'

(AFP/Getty)

Pressure is mounting on the government to repeal a “draconian and outdated” Georgian-era law used to criminalise thousands of homeless people each year for sleeping and begging on the street.

Charities and politicians of all stripes have laid out their opposition to the Vagrancy Act, which was controversial even when rolled out in 1824.

The Labour Party adopting its abolition as policy in December 2018 and charities Centrepoint, St Mungo’s and Crisis have called for an end to the law, which was described in parliament this week as “a cruel and outdated piece of legislation” by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat MP who has been campaigning for its repeal since February 2018.

"If the Act were isn’t needed in those areas then why is it needed anywhere at all," she said. "Government should listen to those on the front line and come clean about who the stakeholders who want to keep it are. Having asked repeatedly they refuse to do so which can only suggest they themselves are the barrier."

Crisis’ director of policy and external affairs, Matt Downie, told The Independent the act was "not fit for purpose" as it represented "social attitudes 200 years out of date and must be repealed as soon as possible,” .

He said while it was right for councils and police to respond to “genuine antisocial activity”, being homeless and destitute should never be considered a crime.

The government has agreed to review the legislation but called for “a cool-headed assessment of the law before acting” during this week’s debate.

Jake Berry, a minister at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government (DHCLG), told the House of Commons: “The Government do not believe that anyone should be criminalised for simply sleeping rough, but equally we should not rush to a wholesale repeal of the 1824 Act without proper consideration of the consequences.”

A freedom of information request to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2016 revealed that more than 2,000 people had been prosecuted under the Act every year for at least 10 years.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have abolished the law, which has been extended over the years to prosecute offences deemed to cause “moral outrage”, including homosexuality, prostitution and “living in sin”.

Thirty-four per cent of local authorities in England and Wales still use it to punish rough sleeping and begging, although the majority choose not to enforce it.

Mr Berry said the 1824 Act was “sometimes the only option to get someone off the street when they have become dependent on begging income to support their drug or alcohol dependency”.

A recent survey of outreach workers by London based St Mungo’s showed 71 per cent were in favour of scrapping the law.

Several respondents agreed that law enforcement is sometimes required in the case of “persistent” or “aggressive” begging, but said the legal mechanisms for this already exist elsewhere.

Centrepoint’s head of public affairs, Paul Noblet said that repealing the law would help positively shape the attitudes of enforcement agencies, save valuable police time and allow government resources to be better spent providing meaningful support.

“The government’s own rough sleeping strategy states that those sleeping rough are vulnerable and should not be discriminated against,” he said. “The Act does nothing to resolve homelessness and contributes to the shame and stigma associated with it.”

Hugh Gaffney, a Labour MP who spoke during this week's parliamentary debate, said he believed the Act was “symbolic of the Government’s attitude towards homelessness”.

Mr Gaffney also accused the government of using the act “to ignore the need to tackle the underlying causes of homelessness such as poverty, debt, addiction and lack of affordable housing.”

Despite a two per cent decrease in the government’s rough sleeping figures, homeless shelters across the UK are experiencing record demand, an investigation by The Independent revealed this week.

Nearly half of the 3,289 individuals recorded sleeping rough in London this winter were doing so for the first time, a simultaneous report by the Chain database revealed.

When announcing the law’s repeal as Labour policy, Jeremy Corbyn said: “Homeless people need help, not punishment. It should shame us all that rough sleeping has doubled in the last eight years and nearly 600 people died while homeless last year.”

Minister for Housing and Homelessness Heather Wheeler MP said: “No one is meant to spend their lives on the streets, or without a home to call their own. That’s why we are investing £1.2bn to tackle homelessness and have bold plans backed by £100m to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027.

“In our Rough Sleeping Strategy, we announced a wider review of homelessness and rough sleeping legislation, which will include the Vagrancy Act. We will set out further steps in due course.”