In a nutshell

• On Monday 29 June, the Vagrancy Act was repealed by the government
• Successive governments had promised to get rid of the Georgian-era act, first 
  introduced in 1824
• The law criminalised homelessness and was regularly used up to its repeal
• Legislation, such as the Crime and Policing Act of 2026, continues to punish people experiencing homelessness.

The Vagrancy Act was passed in 1824 to deal with the burgeoning number of homeless troops returning from the war in France. By anyone’s standards that is cold.

Then all of a sudden, on a Monday morning in late June, the Georgian-era legislation was finally repealed.

For over 200 years the bill criminalised homelessness, arming authorities with powers to move on, fine and even arrest people sleeping rough. Upwards of 3,800 people were arrested under the act in England and Wales from 2018 to 2022.

Apart from the punitive side of the bill, with people being fined up to a thousand quid, the act encouraged people experiencing homelessness to keep a low profile, effectively pushing them away from the services they desperately needed to survive.

Interestingly, I had an impromptu picnic yesterday with my mate Phil who sleeps in the local  park and spends his days outside a Tesco, helping shoppers with their trolleys and carrying shopping bags for change.

As we brazenly sipped our vanilla vodka, apple juice, tonic water and ice on the doorstep of one of South London’s biggest superstores, we got to talking about the Vagrancy Act. Not only was Phil unaware that it had been repealed, he didn’t know it existed in the first place.

He’s been homeless for many years, so of course he’s been aware for a long time that the police can fuck with him. Phil is a bright guy with substance use problems. He tells me he doesn’t need to know his rights, because the police do what they want anyway and I’ve got a tendency to believe him. Instead of knowing the law, he protects himself with street-smarts, instinct and know-how.

Of course, he’s had his fair share of run-ins with the police and some of the stuff he has told me is shocking in its brutality and flagrant abuse of his rights. But he has come to accept it and takes some pride in the way he deals with it all.

“Mat,” he said, “I know how to avoid ‘em, I’ve got eyes in the back of my head. This act [repealing the Vagrancy Act], whatever it is, will make no difference and the people that most need help, who are a bit unstable, will always be the ones that get grief.”

He isn’t wrong. You can take away the powers of the Vagrancy Act and make efforts to decriminalise homelessness, but there is still a raft of public order-facing legislation that gives cops the power to arrest people for next to nothing. There are people on the streets with mental health issues who will continue to run into trouble with the type of police officers who revel in escalation.  

The truly awful reality is that the type of trauma-informed training that would help officers de-escalate these confrontations is most often only received when it is mandated as a punishment for brutalising someone. It’s like forcing criminal offenders with addiction problems to go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings – it just ain’t gonna work.

All the legislation in the world is useless without the skills to apply those laws effectively. However, saying that, a decent legal framework is an essential starting point.

Speaking of, legislation is in place that will continue many of the worst aspects of the Vagrancy Act.

Dispersal orders such as Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO) and Community Protection Notices are regularly issued by local authorities trying to remove people from public space.

The Crime and Policing Act of 2026 allows for people sleeping rough to be handed dispersal orders, prohibiting ‘spatial trespass’.

Under the 2014 Crime and Policing Act, Anti Social Behaviour Injunctions are handed to people for rough sleeping.

Meanwhile, PSPOs can often carry punitive fines of £100 which, going unpaid, can balloon to court fines of up to £1,000.

Somehow all of this makes perfect sense to the people charged with designing legislation and enforcing it.

Farewell, then, the Vagrancy Act and good riddance. But people experiencing homelessness and sleeping rough will continue to be targeted and criminalised by legislation. Maybe one day the harsher elements of the 2026 Crime and Policing Act will be replaced or done away with altogether. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another 200 years… .

Council chaos

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has ordered Hounslow Council in London to pay a woman £7,100 in compensation, after all of her belongings were thrown away when she was evicted from her home, even though the council promised to look after them. Miss X was issued an eviction notice in spring 2024. A council assessment recorded she had several health conditions that affected her day-to-day life. After being issued the notice, Hounslow notified Miss X that it owed her a ‘prevention duty’, meaning the council should take steps to stop her becoming homeless. By September 2024, the notice had expired, with no evidence the landlord planned to proceed with the eviction. However, in mid-October 2024, Miss X received a notice that her landlord had applied to court for a possession order and was evicted by bailiffs in May 2025. She initially went to stay with family, while the council offered her a room at a hotel as interim accommodation. The Standard reports that, rather than providing appropriate housing, the council moved Miss X between three temporary properties. The council was aware of her mobility issues, but placed her in properties that did not meet her physical needs. The majority of the final £7,100 compensation was awarded to recognise the extensive time she was forced to live in these unsuitable homes. On the day of the eviction, the council failed to inform the moving company they had arranged for Miss X in time, leading to the landlord removing the belongings. Miss X lost all of her possessions. She was compensated £500 for lost items and £300 for distress caused.

B&B lawbreak

London’s Ealing Council broke the law by placing a disabled pregnant mother and her child in temporary accommodation for over a year, the local government watchdog has found. The woman uses a wheelchair and has complex medical needs. She originally approached the council in February 2024 because she was homeless. Legally, families with children can be housed in B&B accommodation for a maximum of six weeks in England. To make matters worse, the accommodation had stairs, breaching accessibility guidelines for council-housed people reliant on wheelchairs. The ombudsman found the council failed to act fast enough upon receiving medical information from the woman’s midwife to assess her priority band. The delay meant that she was unable to bid on suitable properties, according to the BBC. The council apologised and will pay £6,000 in compensation for the impact of the accommodation, together with a further £150 for the distress.

© the Pavement
Checkmates: The first-ever Streets Legends Chess Cup at the Museum of Homelessness (MoH) took place on 17 and 18 July, at the MoH Manor House Lodge site. A team tournament was held on the Friday and an open singles tournament on the Saturday. Alongside the competition, chess sets were available to visitors wanting a casual game. Players competed for cash prizes, MoH goodie bags and the Street Legends Chess Cup. Congratulations to everybody who took part. Check out the MoH website for more community events coming up: museumofhomelessness.org

New record

Official figures gathered by Crisis show the number of people sleeping rough in England rose to a record 4,793 last summer. The figure is widely understood to be an underestimate. Including people sleeping in hostels and other temporary accommodation, the official homeless figure currently stands at more than 180,000 people in England. A joint report by the thinktank IPPR North and Crisis warns that the number of people experiencing homelessness in England will rise by 25% – equivalent to about 50,000 people – by 2030 without swift, sustained action. The analysis, based on government figures, also suggests that the number of people owed a homelessness duty by their local authority will rise from 182,540 last year to 231,299 in 2029-30 unless radical action is taken. The report calls for a national expansion of Andy Burnham’s Greater Manchester “A Bed Every Night” programme, which aims to provide a bed and personalised support to every person at risk of sleeping rough in the city. Crisis is also calling for support for councils to bring long-term empty homes back into use.

New direction

In July, the UK welcomed its seventh prime minister in a decade when Andy Burnham replaced the outgoing Keir Starmer. Burnham was made Labour party leader the week before Starmer formally resigned. Although the pair represent the same political party, Burnham has promised the “biggest changes in 40 years” to the UK by his government. Encouragingly, Burnham used his first speech as prime minister to deliver a message on the homelessness crisis. Standing outside Downing Street, Burnham told reporters: “I will soon go through that door behind me and issue my first instruction – to end rough sleeping in our country.” As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham introduced the “A Bed Every Night” programme, which set out to get people sleeping rough into shelter. It remains to be seen what his plans are to end rough sleeping on a national scale. Watch this space.

Pop-up

In late June, Streets Kitchen ran a pop-up outreach service in north London, inviting people to eat, drink and access services that could be helpful to them. On site, volunteers offered sun cream and bottles of water to guests, while Naloxone kits and opioid awareness information was also shared. Streets Kitchen says it is planning similar pop-ups through the summer and has announced that this year’s StreetsFest – the annual festival of services, support and entertainment for people experiencing homelessness – will take place on Wednesday 2 September.

• Keep up to date with Streets Kitchen and the upcoming StreetsFest at streetskitchen.org

Upstreaming service

The Upstream Homelessness Prevention Fund learning report found almost 1,000 people were supported and 662 households were prevented from being affected by the homelessness crisis in Scotland in a pilot scheme to evaluate how to carry out the upcoming ‘Ask and Act’ prevention duties. The report revealed findings from seven social landlord and third sector partnerships who participated in the scheme, estimating that the pilot saved costs of almost £10m. The pilot implemented routine ‘Asking’ at several intervals, as well as rapid cash payments to tackle issues, stopping evictions, decreasing legal costs, developing engagement and enabling frontline staff to rapidly prevent crisis for people. Scotland Housing News reports the scheme ran between 2025-26 with £1m funding made available to partners by the Scottish Government.

© Antropia
Behind the mask: Since 2024, Antropia has run weekly Portal Projects art workshops for people affected by homelessness at the Swiss Church, London. Members of the Portal Projects have co-designed public artworks installed at the Swiss Church, St Paul's Actors' Church and Phoenix Garden. One of the works, pictured above, features a green bronze mask with a QR code linking directly to a curated list of support services and resources for people experiencing homelessness. To attend Antropia Portal Projects art workshops, visit the Swiss Church on 79 Endell Street, London, WC2H 9DY on Tuesdays, 9 – 11am. 

Misinformation debunked

Scotland’s Housing Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has condemned what she terms “misinformation” on refugees, reiterating people seeking asylum were not prioritised over Scottish citizens. Speaking in June, Somerville addressed claims by Reform UK Scotland that the end of the local connection rule in 2022 has seen migrants presenting as homeless travel from England to be housed in Scotland. Both the Scottish Government and the housing charity Shelter have made clear the claims are false. Somerville told The National: “Local authorities assess each case based on statutory duties and household need... These rights apply equally to all those who are homeless through no fault of their own.” Meanwhile, Gordon Llewellyn-MacRae, interim director of the Shelter Scotland, said: “Everyone who is homeless in Scotland is entitled to have their case assessed fairly, with dignity, and according to their legal rights.”

Living in fear

A survey carried out for Everyone Home collective – a group of more than 40 organisations working around housing and homelessness – found that 35% of 1,000 respondents from Scotland feared losing their home over the next three years. The rate rises to a staggering 49% for respondents aged between 18 and 24. A spokesperson for Scotland’s largest tenants’ union, Living Rent, told the Morning Star: “The fear of losing our homes and becoming homeless is never far from any tenant’s mind. Most of us have been forced out of our flats or communities because landlords increased the rent or evicted us, and we know far too well the debilitating impact this has on the rest of our lives.”

Children at risk

An investigation by The Ferret has found that over 2,000 children under two years old were placed in temporary accommodation in Scotland during 2024 and 2025, despite evidence this puts them at higher risk of health complications or even death. Responding to the report, Scotland's commissioner for children and young people has called on the government to take action to end the use of unsuitable temporary accommodation for children. Earlier this year research by the National Child Mortality Database found that 104 children have died in temporary accommodation in the UK since 2019, with 76 under the age of one.

Response ability

In March, Croydon Council, London, launched a rapid response service to help rough sleepers move away from the streets and into safer, more stable accommodation. The rapid response focuses on finding and engaging rough sleepers as swiftly as possible. It offers trauma‑informed, compassionate support that includes access to healthcare, mental health services, substance use treatment and help with accessing accommodation. The service is a partnership project between Thames Reach, the council, police, health services and voluntary, community and faith sector groups. In a press release, Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon, said: “This new rapid response service demonstrates our unwavering commitment to supporting Croydon’s most vulnerable residents with dignity and compassion.”

© The People's Recovery Project
Alight here: On 4 June, the People’s Recovery Project (TPRP) has organised an afternoon of spoken word, musical performances, DJ sets, motivational talks and much more from TPRP community members. TPRP supports people experiencing homelessness and addiction to build and sustain recovery. The free event, titled Lightbulb Moments, is open to the public and runs from 2 – 5pm at Dalston Curve Garden, 13 Dalston Lane, London, E8 3DF.
If you would like to know more about the services the People’s Recovery Project provides, visit the website: thepeoplesrecoveryproject.org

Child deaths

In the past six years, 104 children in England have died because of living conditions linked to temporary accommodation, data compiled by the all-party parliamentary group for households in temporary accommodation has found. The research also found that there were 64 stillbirths and 27 neonatal deaths involving mothers living in temporary accommodation in the UK in 2024. Responding to the findings, Siobhain McDonagh, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for households in temporary accommodation, announced: “We need urgent, sustained action to bring down the number of homeless children and to ensure that no family is left in conditions that put lives at risk. Because until that happens, we cannot honestly say we are doing enough.” An estimated 135,000 households live in temporary accommodation in England, including 176,000 children.

Closure

Back in March, LBC reported London’s only existing hospital unit providing addiction treatment for rough sleepers in need of support would be closing. The Addiction Clinical Care Suite at St Thomas’ Hospital has treated more than 1,000 patients since it opened in 2021. In May, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care suggested a replacement service will be set up in due course, telling LBC: “Rising costs meant the London boroughs determined the Addiction Clinical Care Suite was no longer affordable – with a £1m shortfall and times when beds were underused. They are inviting tenders for a more sustainable service and ministers have requested further advice on future provision.”

A picture from the exhibition SEEN. © Jack Eames
Picture perfect: A photography exhibition centering on Haircuts4Homeless (H4H) was held in London in April. Photographer and director Jack Eames spent seven years focusing his lens on the work of H4H, a charity offering people experiencing homelessness in the UK free haircuts. There are roughly 56 H4H projects in the UK, which since its foundation in 2014 has provided more than 12,000 free haircuts. Marking the opening of SEEN, Stewart Roberts MBE, founder of H4H, called the exhibition “a celebration of dignity, humanity and the belief that everyone deserves to be seen.”
Learn more about Haircuts4Homeless on its website: www.haircuts4homeless.com

Pub lunch

A WhatsApp group’s members are buying meals and drinks for homeless people through the Wetherspoon’s app. The group was started by Chris Illman, who was inspired by the Facebook group ‘Wetherspoons: the Game!’, a group that encourages strangers on Facebook to order rounds of drinks for each other at any Wetherspoon’s pub. That group is some 800,000 members strong. Illman’s WhatsApp group currently stands at around 700 members, operating on the premise that instead of buying drinks for one another, they would buy food and non-alcoholic drinks for those who could not afford it themselves. According to the Guardian, to request a meal people can contact admins on the ‘Wetherspoon’s: The Game!’ Facebook page with their location and meal request, accompanied by a photo to prove they are real and in the pub. An admin will then send the anonymised request to the WhatsApp group of potential donors. Since 2018, the group has bought tens of thousands of meals and hundreds of thousands of snacks for vulnerable people across the UK. 

Village people

Social Bite has opened a homelessness village in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council. Harriet Gardens is a £3m supported living community in Rutherglen, featuring 15 high-quality modular Nest Houses, an outdoor gym and a central community hub with shared spaces for cooking, group activities, therapeutic support and social connection. Third Force News quoted co-founder of Social Bite, Josh Littlejohn MBE, welcoming the news: “Harriet Gardens represents what is possible when we bring together housing, support and community in the right way. This is not just about providing a roof over someone’s head – it’s about creating a place where people feel valued, supported and able to rebuild their lives.” The village will be managed by charity partner The Salvation Army, providing specialist, round-the-clock support to residents.

© the Pavement
Opening night: Members of the Pavement team were present for opening night of a new exhibition by the Museum of Homelessness. Criminal charts the causes and criminalisation of homelessness from the 1600s to today. The exhibition includes new works by artists including 10Foot, Gemma Lees, Matt Bonner, Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives and Surfing Sofas. A remarkable – and at times shocking – history of homelessness, Criminal is open from 21 May to 25 July and is free to attend. You can visit and see for yourself on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 12:30 – 4:30pm, at the museum’s Manor House Lodge address by Manor House Station, Seven Sisters Road, London, N4 2DE. The museum is closed 3, 4, 10 and 11 July. 
For more information see the Museum of Homelessness website: museumofhomelessness.org

Open all year

An Edinburgh winter homeless shelter will operate year-round, following a funding boost from Edinburgh Council. The Welcome Centre, run by Bethany Christian Trust, is usually open for the winter months and was due to close at the end of April 2026, but will now operate through to March 2027. The centre accommodates 64 households who have been sleeping rough in Edinburgh, providing meals and support to guests. Councillor Tim Pogson, housing, homelessness and fair work convener, told Edinburgh Evening News: “We don’t want people to have to sleep rough at any time of the year, so I’m really pleased that we’ll be able to keep the Welcome Centre open throughout 2026.”

Health warning

A major new briefing from Public Health Scotland has warned that homelessness in the country is increasingly driven by poverty, poor health and systemic pressures across public services. The Health and Homelessness Briefing, published in May, identifies homelessness is both a cause and consequence of severe health inequalities, with people experiencing homelessness facing significantly higher risks of physical and mental ill‑health, premature mortality and repeated contact with crisis services. Scottish Housing News reported Public Health Scotland has called for coordinated, rights‑based action to prevent people experiencing homelessness.

© Glasgow City Mission
Bicentenary birthday: Glasgow City Mission marked the 200th anniversary of its establishment in May, inviting people working with the homeless community from across the globe to learn about its projects and take part in a number of activities in the city. Four days of celebrations were brought to a close with a church service at Glasgow Cathedral on Sunday 17 May. The Mission was founded in 1826 and today involves volunteers and staff from more than 100 churches in and around Glasgow.

• Glasgow City Mission provides a range of services for people experiencing homelessness, including a drop-in centre, winter accommodation, food, outreach and much more. Visit the website to find out more: 
  www.glasgowcitymission.com