Yesterday, our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, launched a national drive to offer “a route off the streets” and community support for every rough sleeper by Christmas.
Burnham declared his intention to end homelessness on first taking office: a hopeful sign and a laudable aim.
The promise so far
The previous government repealed the Vagrancy Act on 29 June 2026, bringing an end to nearly two centuries of legislation that has criminalised rough sleeping and begging. The Vagrancy Act was introduced in 1824, in response to rising homelessness following the return of many wounded and homeless soldiers at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. While its use had sharply declined, it was still sometimes used to move people on instead of addressing the root causes of a person’s homelessness.
The Vagrancy Act punished people simply for not having a home. As a result, it pushed vulnerable people away from support, increased the risk of fines or criminal records and made it harder for people to rebuild their lives.
Repealing the Act is a vital step in ending a system that has failed to address the causes of rough sleeping and in shifting the focus towards prevention, support and long-term solutions.
The then-government’s National Plan to End Homelessness, backed by £3.6 billion over the next three years, aimed to halve long-term rough sleeping and end the unlawful use of B&Bs for families by the end of the Parliament.
The government also announced long-term investment in social and affordable housing – £39 billion over the next ten years. Its recent figures show social and affordable housing starts are up 35 per cent since 2024 and completions have risen again this year.
The previous government’s Social Housing Bill aimed to strengthen protections for victims of domestic abuse in social housing, helping to prevent homelessness – research shows that nearly 70 per cent of women experiencing rough sleeping in 2025 had suffered domestic abuse since the age of 16. We will now have to wait to see if the new government continues with this Bill.
So all’s well that ends well? No, it’s not.
Anti-social behaviour legislation has not been repealed: the 2014 Crime and Policing Act is still law. Criminal Behaviour Orders were introduced in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to replace the Anti-social Behaviour Order regime, together with a civil injunction to prevent nuisance and annoyance (IPNA). Local councils, the police or any social landlord can apply for an IPNA to stop anti-social behaviour. Further, a court may grant an IPNA if it is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that a person has engaged, or threatens to engage, in anti-social behaviour, and it is just and convenient to grant the injunction for the purpose of preventing anti-social behaviour.
Breaching an injunction is not a criminal offence but can carry significant penalties imposed in civil proceedings. The court may issue a fine or impose a suspended or immediate term of imprisonment of up to two years for breaching an injunction, with people generally serving half the sentence.
Penelope Gibbs’ article, In Praise of Criminal Courts, outlines the protections available under criminal law – protections that are denied to those appearing before the county courts under the 2014 Act. They face potential imprisonment yet often fail to obtain legal representation (there is no system of a duty solicitor as at the magistrates’ court). As they are unrepresented, they are also frequently committed to prison in their absence, having no one to speak up for them in court.
This is a prime example of ‘punished for being poor’; indeed, is it a crime to be poor?
Punished for being homeless under civil not criminal law
In the Quakers In Criminal Justice Newsletter Spring 2026 I related the case of a woman who breached an Anti-social Behaviour Injunction by sleeping in the Peterborough YMCA. For this breach, Peterborough County Court imposed an immediate prison sentence of 18 months. She was not present in court when this sentence was passed and there was no one in court to represent her.
Until the 2014 Crime and Policing Act is repealed, homeless people may continue to be subject to an anti-social behaviour injunction forbidding them to sleep in public spaces, and may be sent to prison for doing so.
Rona Epstein thanks the Oakdale Trust for funding her research.
