In this interview recorded at the end of last week, Rosie Perkins from Crisis joins Policing TV to reflect on the upcoming repeal of the Vagrancy Act and why it marks a genuinely historic moment in the way homelessness is understood in law. Speaking after years of campaigning, Rosie explains why the Act had become such a powerful symbol of an outdated approach to poverty, and why its removal matters not just legally, but socially too.

BREAKING NEWS https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rough-sleeping-no-longer-a-crime-as-vagrancy-act-repealed

The conversation also looks at what comes next. Rosie argues that while the criminal offence has gone, the wider challenge is making sure homelessness is not simply swept into other enforcement tools. Instead, she makes the case for a more trauma-informed, multi-agency response in which police, councils and homelessness services work together to connect people with support rather than push them further away from it.

If you want to have a read of From Enforcement to Ending Homelessness guide, click here

Key takeaways

• Rosie Perkins says the repeal of the Vagrancy Act is a historic shift in how society responds to homelessness.
• The Act, introduced in 1824, made it a criminal offence for someone to sleep rough.
• Crisis campaigned for repeal because the law punished people for being destitute without helping resolve homelessness.
• Rosie says the campaign succeeded by building a broad coalition across charities, politicians, lawyers and police forces.
• A major theme is that police engagement with homelessness should now move away from enforcement and towards support.
• Rosie warns that other antisocial behaviour tools could still end up sweeping in people who are homeless if guidance is unclear.
• She argues that the best responses come when police work alongside councils and homelessness services.
• The overall message is that homelessness should no longer be treated as a crime, but as a situation requiring the right support.

Sound bites

• “homelessness is no longer a crime in law”
• “it’s quite a historic moment for society”
• “it treats people as second-class citizens”
• “the conditions are right for this act to be repealed”
• “connect them to the right service”

Chapters
00:28 – Why the repeal matters
01:05 – What the Vagrancy Act actually did
02:11 – Why it took so long
02:56 – How the campaign finally won
05:18 – Is this a reset in police-homelessness relations?
05:52 – Why guidance still matters
07:54 – What good policing should look like now

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