Fears of rise in homeless tent cities as rough sleeping is decriminalised: Angela Rayner is set to abolish 200-year-old law despite soaring numbers living on streets
Rough sleeping is to be decriminalised by Spring next year under radical plans by Labour to stop people becoming homeless in the first place.
The number of rough sleepers has risen dramatically since 2010, from 1,768 people thought to be sleeping rough on an average night in England to 4,667 last year.
Around three in 10 of those sleeping out are in London, up from around 23 per cent in 2010 - evidenced by US-style 'tent cities' that have cropped up in high-profile locations such as Park Lane and University College Hospital London.
To tackle the issue, the Government says it will repeal the 1824 Vagrancy Act - a 200-year-old law first introduced to tackle mass rough sleeping following the Napoleonic Wars - and bring in £1billion of anti-homelessness initiatives.
The move to repeat the Act was first announced in 2022 by the Conservatives, but was not brought to Parliament before Labour took power.
Repealing the law will mean police will be unlikely to move on anyone rough sleeping unless they are behaving disruptively towards the public - and could see a rise in larger encampments.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said yesterday that the repeal of the Act would send 'a clear message that rough sleeping is not a crime to be punished'. The move has also been welcomed by homeless charities.
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, called it a 'landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety'.
Sleeping rough will no longer be a crime by next spring after the Government committed to repealing the Vagrancy Act (pictured: a homeless encampment on Park Lane)
He added: 'For 200 years the Vagrancy Act has meant that people who are homeless are treated as criminals and second class citizens.
'It has punished people for trying to stay safe and done nothing to address why people become homeless in the first place.
'We hope this signals a completely different approach to helping people forced onto the streets and clears the way for a positive agenda that is about supporting people who desperately want to move on in life and fulfil their potential.'
The Government criminalised rough sleeping and begging in the 1820s amid rising concerns over the rising number of people who were resorting to sleeping outside - often soldiers homeless after the Napoleonic Wars.
Subsequently, the law has been held up as a 'measure... of repression' by a 1906 Departmental Committee and efforts have been made to curtail it over the years.
Much of the law has been repealed - including sections that allowed anyone to apprehend a rough sleeper and take them to local judges, and punishing the offence by whipping.
Long gone, too, is a section that deemed fortune-tellers and palm-readers 'rogues and vagabonds'.
But what remains of the act punishes the offences of begging and of continuing to sleep out after refusing or failing to apply for accommodation.
It has still been enforceable in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the powers have been used less frequently over time.
In 2010, 2,760 prosecutions were brought under the Act in 2010, leading to 2,292 convictions. That fell to just 384 prosecutions and 298 convictions in 2023.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner says the repealing of the Vagrancy Act sends a message that 'no one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough'
It is not known whether the repeal of the act will lead to 'tent cities' - which can still be removed using anti-social behaviour powers
Councils can move in and remove homeless encampments with court orders, as seen here in Park Lane in October last year
Sleeping rough will no longer be considered a crime - though acts such as aggressive begging remain criminalised via other laws
However, homelessness charities have said the Act is still used 'informally' to move people on with the threat of arrest alone. But with the repealing of the Act, it will no longer be a crime to sleep rough or to beg.
The repealing of the act goes hand in hand with a raft of measures announced by ministers last December to tackle the root causes of homelessness.
A £1bn bumper package of initiatives includes £633million to help prevent homelessness, £185million for shelters to tackle rough sleeping and tens of millions for long-term accommodation and drug and alcohol programmes.
Ms Rayner said: 'No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by ending this archaic law, we are making sure it can never happen again. Of course, this does not mean that the job is done.'
An individual who is, for example, harassing people, may still be prosecuted under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014.
The 2014 Act has been used to issue dispersal orders in the past against so-called 'tent cities' - including, controversially, when a group of 10 tents was forcibly evacuated outside UCLH in November 2023.
Tents were loaded into a bin lorry and crushed, with one man arrested after refusing to leave the area. Metropolitan Police chiefs later admitted the actions of police and council staff were 'unlawful'.
The Government says it will also introduce new laws to tackle modern phenomena such as organised begging by gangs who send groups of people into town centres to ask for cash.
It will also ban trespassing with the intention of committing a crime - an offence under the Vagrancy Act that will remain on the statute books.
Council workers are seen removing tents from the Park Lane encampment in October 2024
Camden Council and the Met Police fell foul of the law after destroying people's tents in bin lorries in 2023 as they took down an encampment outside a hospital
More than 4,000 people were sleeping rough on any given night in England last year, according to official estimates (file photo)
It is not known whether the easing of the law could lead to US-style 'tent cities' (pictured: an encampment in San Francisco)
The Government says it will spend £1billion on initiatives to combat the causes of homelessness as well as rough sleeping
But the new Crime and Policing Bill will also increase the length of dispersal orders - used to break up homeless encampments - from 48 hours to 72 hours.
It will also increase fines for public space protection orders - a type of anti-social behaviour order - from £100 to £500.
The Home Office says these should not be used to tackle homelessness, but charities say their use continues regardless - particularly in Manchester, where the city council used a PSPO to tear down a tent encampment.
Similar orders have also been introduced in Sheffield and Birmingham, effectively outlawing even non-verbal begging.
Removing the act of vagrancy as a criminal offence will mean people who are sleeping rough without disturbing anyone or committing trespass on private property are not committing a crime.
Whether it will lead to a rise in US-style 'tent cities' remains to be seen - but the issue has grown so great Stateside that the Supreme Court ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping out in public places last summer.
The court, which voted 6-3 on the ruling, said it would not be unconstitutional to order homeless people not to sleep in public - but critics say it will not solve the deeper problems associated with homelessness.
In February, MailOnline visited a tent encampment on land in London's Park Lane, directly opposite luxury hotels and supercar dealerships.
Efforts have been made to move individuals on in the past, only for those living there - many of them migrants from eastern Europe and Africa unable to secure long-term housing - to set up nearby days later.
One Sudanese resident, Hassan, said he had been in the UK for 20 years, but became homeless two years ago.
The 44-year-old told our reporter: 'We come to this camp because nobody troubles us. The police never come. No one comes to tell us to go.
'The only people who come are from the charities to check that we are OK. We get help from different charities - places where you can get food and a shower.
'I would like a home to live in but this tent now is all I have.'
