Coronavirus: Homelessness

What happened

During a crisis, people on the margins tend to get left behind. This is exactly what has happened to homeless people.

In March the Government said it was working with local councils to shelter every homeless person. But not everyone was sheltered under the ‘Everyone In’ scheme. Our investigative unit, Liberty Investigates, found that a homeless man displaying coronavirus symptoms was left to sleep on a bus.

Various excuses ranged from no suitable accommodation to his immigration status – another example of the Government’s immigration policies taking priority over human life.

Many homeless people have been left to fend for themselves during the pandemic, and we know of a number who were fined for being outside during the lockdown when they didn’t have anywhere else to go.

This follows the cruel pattern of recent years of treating rough sleepers as criminals.

The Government must urgently provide clear guidance to councils that during a public health emergency, everyone who is homeless can get assistance, regardless of priority need or their immigration status. And that ‘homeless’ extends beyond rough sleepers to include homeless people who are staying with others and people at risk of abuse or violence in their home.

There can be no ‘return to normal’ after this crisis. The Government must also scrap the 200-year-old Vagrancy Act which is still used to charge rough sleepers, and Public Spaces Protection Orders which are cruelly used by local councils to ban sleeping rough and move homeless people out of their town centres.

Homelessness is not a crime.

What we want

The Government must urgently provide clear guidance to councils that everyone who is homeless can get assistance, regardless of priority need or their immigration status. And that ‘homeless’ extends beyond rough sleepers to include homeless people who are staying with others and people at risk of abuse or violence in their home.

There can be no ‘return to normal’ after this crisis. The Government must also scrap the 200-year-old Vagrancy Act which is still used to charge rough sleepers, and Public Spaces Protection Orders which are cruelly used by local councils to ban sleeping rough and move homeless people out of their town centres.

Homelessness is not a crime.