'Outdated' law criminalising homelessness to be axed after 200 years

The Vagrancy Act was introduced in 1824 to deal with rising homelessness in the era following the Napoleonic Wars and Industrial Revolution.

Over the years, the act has been enforced less and less as attitudes change and charities continue to help homeless communities.

Nevertheless, despite increased sympathy for those living on the street, the act remains an enforceable law.

The government has now announced it will be repealing the law to ensure rough sleeping is no longer a criminal offence, as it concentrates its efforts on getting to the root causes of homelessness, backed by major funding.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has boosted funding for homelessness services by an extra £233 million this financial year, bringing total investment for 2025-26 to nearly £1 billion. This ambitious support will prevent more families from entering temporary accommodation and tackle rough sleeping head-on.   

 Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:    “We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support. 

“No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.”   

New policing priorities will be focused on tackling serious crimes to keep communities safe.

This will include a new offence of facilitating begging for gain and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously included under the 1824 act.  

The homelessness charity Crisis has celebrated the decision, saying that they hope it will promote supporting people to ‘fulfil their potential’.

Chief Executive of Crisis Matt Downie said: “This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety.

“For 200 years the Vagrancy Act has meant that people who are homeless are treated as criminals and second class citizens. It has punished people for trying to stay safe and done nothing to address why people become homeless in the first place.

“Ending the use of the Vagrancy Act recognises a shameful history of persecuting people for poverty and destitution, something that figures like William Wilberforce and Winston Churchill warned against in their opposition to the Act.

“It is of great credit to the UK Government that they have shown such principled leadership in scrapping this pernicious Act. We hope this signals a completely different approach to helping people forced onto the streets and clears the way for a positive agenda that is about supporting people who desperately want to move on in life and fulfil their potential. We look forward to assisting the UK Government with their forthcoming homelessness strategy to do exactly that.”