Cllr Gant, seconded by Cllr Garden, proposed the submitted motion as set out in the agenda and briefing note.

After debate and on being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Council resolved to adopt the following motion:

On 21 June 1824 Parliament introduced “An Act for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, rogues and vagabonds”, commonly known as the Vagrancy Act. It was a response to the increasing number of homeless urban poor following the end of the Napoleonic Wars some nine years earlier, and made it an offence to sleep rough or beg. Campaigners including William Wilberforce condemned the Act from the start because it did not take individual circumstances into account.

But, astonishingly, almost two centuries later, it remains in force. Nor is it just a forgotten relic: in 1989 there were 1,396 convictions under the Act; in 2014 three men were prosecuted under the Act for taking cheese, tomatoes and cake from a bin outside a supermarket in Kentish Town (later dropped by the CPS).

In 2017 the Government announced a review of the law, but made no progress.

In March 2020 Layla Moran MP tabled the Vagrancy (Repeal) Bill. The campaign was joined by many leading organisations in the field, including Shelter, St Mungo’s, Crisis, and very many others. However, the Government took no steps to progress the bill.

On 25 February this year the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government RobertJ enrick MP told the House of Commons that the Vagrancy Act should be “consigned to history” and described it as “antiquated” (though did add, worryingly, “We should consider carefully whether better, more modern legislation could be introduced to preserve some aspects of it”).

Layla Moran MP welcomed the direction of his comments and pointed out cross-party support for the repeal Bill: “Liberal Democrats and politicians on all sides have been urging him to repeal this law for years and years. So now he has to keep his word and scrap the Act as soon as possible. Our cross-party bill can be adopted at a moment’s notice and would receive widespread support.”

This Council

·       Welcomes the apparent commitment of Robert Jenrick MP to consign the Vagrancy Act to history, and joins the cross-party group of MPs in urging him to expedite the Repeal Bill as soon as possible;

·       Re-states its belief that criminalising homelessness is never part of the solution to a complex problem;

·       Commits to improving the supply of social-rented homes through house purchase or renovation of underused/unused properties, and to pursue additional funding from MHCLG;

·       Explores by way of a report to Cabinet from the Interim Director of Housing the setting up or supporting a Social Enterprise Lettings Agency to link landlords with homeless people, and provide ongoing support to both landlords and tenants;

·       Asks the Leader to write to Layla Moran MP as sponsor of the Vagrancy (Repeal) Bill communicating its wholehearted support for the Bill and its speedy passage through Parliament