Walking along the streets in the UK, it is almost expected to see homeless people camping out rough on the streets.
It is a rife and ongoing issue, with ONS statistics revealing 3,069 people in the UK were sleeping rough on a single night in Autumn 2022.
A widespread and unfortunate problem such as this seems like something the government desperately needs to resolve.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, for one, has highlighted this issue lately —but in a rather vulgar way.
She has controversially labelled homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” and suggested banning homeless people sleeping in tents on the streets as a solution to the problem.
With the claim that tents in public spaces “causes nuisance and distress to other people”, she wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “there are options for people who don’t want to be sleeping rough”.
The 1824 Vagrancy Act makes it illegal to beg or sleep rough in England and Wales; Braverman has outlined a plan to repeal this legislation to include the banning of sleeping in tents on the streets.
The 7th of November marked the state reopening of Parliament, during which the King gave a speech outlining the government’s new plans for the year ahead. Within this he spoke about the Criminal Justice Bill; although not confirmed, it is speculated it will later introduce her proposal.
[Suella Braverman] has controversiallylabeled homelessness as a ‘lifestyle choice’ and suggested banning homeless people sleeping in tents as a solution to the problem.
Braverman’s plans have, unsurprisingly, received serious backlash.
Numerous charities tackling homelessness have signed an open letter to the Home Secretary urging her to reconsider these plans, including Housing Justice, Crisis, St. Mungo’s, and The Refugee Council.
They explain the consequences that could ensue if the proposal passes: “At the extreme end we will see an increase in deaths and fatalities which are totally preventable.”
Moreover, comedian Joe Lycett launched a campaign to raise money for Crisis following Braverman’s comments, successfully achieving his target of £50,000 before the King’s speech last Tuesday.
The Prime Minister himself, although choosing to somewhat avoid the question, doesn’t seem to be critical of Braverman’s proposal.
At a gas terminal on the 6th of November, when asked about if her language was “offensive”, Sunak declined to give a response, merely stating that “we’ll keep going so that nobody has to sleep rough on our streets”.
In contrast, many other Conservatives have openly opposed Braverman’s rhetoric, even with calls for her to be sacked.
Tory MP Richard Graham has criticised her idea of banning tents, while the Whips’ Office has been dealing with multiple complaints about her ill-mannered comments.
Needless to say, Braverman is facing a fair amount of backlash for her statements, and only time will tell if the proposal will be passed as law, and if so, how extreme it will be.