The Vagrancy Act 1824, which criminalised people for sleeping rough, has finally been removed from law after more than 200 years, meaning that homelessness is no longer a crime.
“If you are forced to sleep on the streets, you are not a ‘vagrant’, you’re a human being who needs support and love.
“Experiencing homelessness is extremely traumatic and the 200-year-old Vagrancy Act was altogether cruel, inhumane and actively prevented people from breaking repeated cycles of homelessness. It’s been a long fight to get it repealed.
“For years, The Wallich has been part of the call to ‘Scrap the Act’, led by Crisis and other experts in homelessness such as Liberty (National Council for Civil Liberties), Shelter Cymru, St Mungo’s, Centrepoint, Cymorth Cymru and Homeless Link. We are so glad that decision makers listened to our campaign demanding the Act’s repeal, ensuring that no one is criminalised for experiencing homelessness.
“The final repeal of the Vagrancy Act shows that when we speak out together, change is possible. Change that could be transformative to tackling homelessness in Wales.”
“We only hope now that policing and local authorities in Wales do not use other means to unnecessarily penalise people for sleeping rough.
Of course, existing anti-social behaviour laws are still rightly in play when there is a criminal concern, however, we’ve seen the use of dispersal orders, public space protection orders and hostile architecture (such as anti-sleep benches and doorway spikes) being used to stop people bedding down – not because they’re bothering anyone, but purely because of stigma, to hide homelessness in our towns and cities.
“The repeal of the Vagrancy Act is a clear move away from marginalisation and criminalisation, towards positive help for people living on our streets, and we are relieved to see it consigned to history.”