Did you know being a rough sleeper is against the law?
It is illegal to be homeless.
Is it not bad enough that our homeless members of society are demonised enough without being made to commit a crime that quite often may not be their fault. Every council must provide accommodation be it hostel, housing first, supported, we cannot allow them to refuse to have accommodation that then makes our vulnerable rough sleepers automatically criminals. The government must also repeal this act.
“Homelessness should not be a crime. But the Vagrancy Act, which goes back to 1824, makes it a crime just to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales. Crisis, Cymorth Cymru, Homeless Link, Shelter Cymru, St Mungo’s, the Wallich and all the #ScraptheAct campaign supporters are calling for the Vagrancy Act be scrapped.
The Vagrancy Act does nothing to resolve the root causes of homelessness. In fact, it’s more likely to push someone further from the vital services that help them to move away from homelessness.
The Government is soon to review the Vagrancy Act, but hasn’t said that they will repeal it – yet. Until they do, vulnerable people will continue to be pushed even further from support.
That’s why we’re calling on the UK Government to #ScraptheAct once and for all.
Please make sure you're signed up to the campaign to find out how you can be involved.”
https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved/campaign/scrap-the-vagrancy-act/
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