Rough sleeping to be decriminalised with 1824 law finally scrapped

16 comments

1. I remember in Oxford a few years ago when they threatened to fine rough sleepers £2.5k. Apparently, if that didn’t work they were going to confiscate their Ferraris. 

2. I’ve always hated conservatives. They’re selfish scumbags who’d let you die if it meant saving them a few quid.

   BUT

   A year or two back, I flicked on the news and saw the headline “Conservatives to tackle homelessness”. I couldn’t believe it. “Have I got them wrong?”

   The next line was “The Conservatives will fine homeless people thousands of pounds”.

   Every time I worry that I’m exaggerating how disgusting those pieces of shit are, I remember that.

3. The fact that they were able to house everyone in 2020 to simply to stop the spread of covid shows that it’s nothing more than not caring

4. Sounds good on paper. Wait til tents appear on high streets.
   A lot of homeless people are homeless because they’ve been evicted from their council house due to either ASB or using the property for criminality or non payment of rent. Once the tenant is evicted from council housing they are no longer eligible for a council house again and require private rental.

   How do you resolve this?

5. I can’t read that as it won’t let me in but that Act is brilliant. It’s the one about exposing the person, and rogues and vagabonds. So gutted if it goes.

6. I think the issue with homelessness is far more complex than just not having a home…

   I’ve seen homeless people who have been helped in the sense of sorting benefits and a flat…there was a lovely woman I used to take to all the time, what they didn’t help her with was her alcoholism and substance abuse and mental illness, which led her to unfortunately being around the same people she was during her time on the streets.

   She couldn’t cope.
   And unfortunately ended up back on the streets and homeless again. And sadly as I found out a few months ago she died 😔

   I wish there was some kind of supported living scheme. Something where they can live in supported living (with a live in social/health/care worker). Somewhere they can get used to living independently again (many struggle after years of being on the streets, paying rent and paying bills etc). Somewhere they get support with addiction/mental health.

   But I don’t think realistically there is that support.

7. they could just fix homelessness and put these poor people in hotels…. oh wait

8. The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread

   -Anatole France.

   (Similar quote from Dickens, but I can’t find it.)

9. Great, so now it’s legal and fine to do fuck all about rough sleeping….

   I know the sub generally hates him, but the only person I saw with a viable plan to tackle rough sleeping (and the wider issue of homelessness) was Corbyn.

10. Hopefully that means we will see an end to brutalist spikes in doorways and benches designed to make sleeping on them impossible. Homelessness is a huge crisis, much of it hidden, and rough-sleepers get the worst treatment. We seem to want to make them feel worse when they are already at their lowest, so no wonder many turn to drink/drugs and/or develop mental health issues. Maybe now we will do more than pretend rough-sleepers do not exist.

11. This is good on the whole but concerning as well if the root cause is not taken care of. This should not be the reason to cut funding for their support. Or does it mean this is the future, UK is also in decline much like US and these are just initial signs.

12. It makes sense to decriminalize unenforceable laws. This is why Cannabis should be decriminalized as well as prostitution.

13. The Finnish model of giving homeless people homes has been a success. Wild outside the box thinking. Won’t happen here though. You can’t discipline the workforce with the threat of death by exposure with that model.

14. just section them all.

    big initial investment as it’s gotten out of hand but should pay itself back over time

15. Lawyer here – this whole article is misleading, and here’s why:

    The *Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022* **DOES REPEAL** the Vagrancy Act, in section 81 — but this repealing provision is only triggered if the secretary of state lays a statutory instrument to do so, as set out in s208(1).

    **Basically, if the government wanted to repeal the Vagrancy Act, they could do it right now.**

    I’m furious it’s not happened already. I’ve written to my MP for the first time asking wtf is going on, and had no reply since January.

    The reason the last government didn’t lay an SI was because they wanted to replace it with something similar, though less draconian. The only reason this present government would delay repeal has to be for the same reason. Basically, nothing has changed.

16. The government also manages to house 1,000s of people arriving to the UK illegally every week.

    I don’t understand why we can’t give our own citizens the same benefits we are giving people that aren’t from the UK.

    And if it’s because “we can’t afford to do that”, well, we should house our own citizens before we do it for the rest of the world.

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