Homelessness and criminalisation

I’m going to throw a few numbers at you, but not many. I’m also going to throw a few Acts of Parliament at you, but not many. I’m going to make a couple of observations and, at the end, pose a couple of questions.

A bit of background

Let’s start with the Acts of Parliament. The Vagrancy Act 1824, passed two hundred years ago this year, and subsequent legislation built on it makes homelessness, particularly forms of rough sleeping, a criminal offence.

When it comes to prosecutions under the Vagrancy Act, the good news is that they have been falling. In 2010, there were 989 prosecutions and 779 convictions. By 2022 this had fallen to 95 prosecutions and 77 convictions.[1]

Prosecutions and convictions are, though, only the tip of a much larger iceberg of police activity, including regular approaches and conversations, as well as arrests. Many rough sleepers will know that when the police approach them, even when they are trying to help them, they approach them with the power of arrest, and potential prosecution.

There is a recognition that the Vagrancy Act needs reform. It was repealed by parliament in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. But ministers under both previous Conservative and current Labour government are holding off from implementing the repeal until replacement laws are in place.

An attempt at updating these laws – the Criminal Justice Bill – didn’t complete its passage through parliament before General Election. All the current government will say at this point is that they are considering their options.[2]

There are particular reasons, I think, for this lack of progress in repealing the Vagrancy Act, beyond pressure on parliamentary time. One reason is that retaining the threat of criminalisation for homeless people in general, and rough sleepers in particular, is useful. It’s a useful power, a useful threat, to hold over the head of homeless people, even if it is a power used infrequently.

Other available powers

The decline in prosecutions under the Vagrancy Act prosecutions might appear to be a good news story. And in some ways it is. But this doesn’t mean that there has been a decline in enforcement actions against rough sleepers.

There are a range of powers, for instance, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, including: Injunction to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance, Community Protection Notice and Public Spaces Protection Orders.

These are civil, rather than criminal, orders, but in many cases it is a criminal offence to breach them. The incoming Labour government is also proposing new civil order powers to tackle ‘anti-social behaviour’ under the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill.

Even if, or when, the power to criminalise homeless under the Vagrancy Act finally goes, a number of enforcement powers remain.

The law evolves, with different ways of achieving the same ends developing. Indeed, the civil nature of many of the newer enforcement powers are, from the perspective of local authorities and national government their strength. They operate to a different evidential standard: balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt.

They also offer fare more flexibility than individual criminal prosecutions of individual rough sleepers under the Vagrancy Act.

What do we know about rough sleeping?

Estimating the true figures on rough sleeping are difficult. The best figures we have suggest it is rising: from 1,768 in 2010, 3,898 in 2023.[3]

As for the characteristics of rough sleepers:

• Most rough sleepers are male and over the age of 26.
• Many, if not most, will experience poor physical and mental health, and will be wrestling with a range of drug and alcohol problems.
• Many will have been in prison, or could be headed to prison because of the chaos in their lives. The average age of death for those who sleep rough over a long period is 44 for men and 42 for women.[4]

Which presents some obvious questions: Do we think that criminalisation and other forms of dispersal and enforcement action will solve the underlying causes and effects of rough sleeping? And if the answer is no, what kinds of policies, what kinds of interventions, would be required?

Notes