The British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is advocating for restrictions on the use of tents by rough sleepers in England and Wales. The proposal was not included in the King’s Speech, which outlines the government’s priorities for the year ahead, but Braverman’s camp insists that the idea has not been abandoned. Downing Street declined to speculate whether the proposal would eventually be included in the Criminal Justice Bill, which was in the King’s Speech and includes measures to tackle begging, but a senior government source has said that discussions about including the idea of tents have delayed the expected introduction of the bill.
Braverman’s proposed measure would mean fines for rough sleepers who’ve been warned by police about causing a disturbance by, for example, refusing to move their tents from doorways. Civil penalties would also be imposed on charities that provide tents to rough sleepers identified by the police as causing a disturbance. Her argument is that the measure targets rough sleepers who “choose to live in tents” and have declined help to get off the streets or enter drug treatment.
There has been significant pushback about Braverman’s proposal from opposition parties and homeless charities. Natalie Elphicke, a Conservative MP, has also criticised the home secretary’s proposal as unhelpful. While Elphicke agrees that the situation is unacceptable, she has expressed that the answer is not simply the removal of tents. Braverman has argued that “we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.” She argues that at present, British cities are heading in the direction of places such as San Francisco and Los Angeles where weak policies have contributed to an explosion of crime, drug taking and squalor.
The prime minister’s spokesperson has said that nobody should be criminalised for having nowhere to live and will be repealing the outdated Vagrancy Act. Instead, the government will do what they can to ensure that the vulnerable can get the support they need while cracking down on anti-social and criminal behaviour. Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, says that Braverman should “educate herself on the true causes of homelessness, rather than continuing to pick on people who are already living in some of the most difficult, dangerous, and deadly conditions,” and that “you don’t tackle homelessness through punitive policies that criminalise people for trying to stay warm.
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