Justice Committee Call for Evidence

Homeless Connect has made a submission to the Justice Committee’s Call for Evidence on the Justice Bill. The Minister for Justice has indicated that she plans to bring forward amendments through this Bill to repeal two pieces of legislation which currently criminalise rough sleeping and begging. The Justice Committee is currently considering the Bill. The Call for Evidence closes on Friday 21 March 2025.

Our Submission

Our submission to the call for evidence was based on our submission to a consultation run by the Department of Justice on the repeal of the Vagrancy Acts. This response was informed by members of our Lived Experience Group in Belfast and by our policy forum.

Some of the key points in the submission include:

• Homeless Connect strongly supports the Departments plan to decriminalise rough sleeping and begging through the repeal of the relevant provisions of the Vagrancy Act 1824 and the Vagrancy Act 1847. We commend the Minister for Justice for bringing forward these proposals. There is nothing wrong per se with old legislation if it is effective and fit for purpose. However, in this case, the legislation currently in
  place is in our estimation not fit for purpose and is contributing to the stigmatisation of people experiencing chronic homelessness.
• A properly funded, trauma informed approach [to rough sleeping and begging] provided collaboratively by a range of organisations is much more likely to generate positive outcomes than a punitive response.
• What is evident to us is that a criminal justice response to rough sleeping would not only be ineffective, but could in fact be entirely counterproductive, further marginalising people facing major challenges.
• Some of the language utilised in the two statutes… is not appropriate and needs to be removed from the Northern Ireland statute book. The terms “rogues” and “vagabonds” as well as the singling out of people with disabilities (“endeavouring by the exposure of wounds or deformities to obtain or gather alms” in section 4(e) of the 1824 act) is manifestly not appropriate and needs to be repealed.
• Criminalising people in poverty- regardless of whether they are sleeping rough- for simply asking for money on the street does not solve the underlying issues which have led them to engaging in that
  activity. In fact, it may actually further hinder individuals from addressing the issues that have led them to beg in the first place by leading them to have a criminal record and in increasing the stigma they already experience.

You can read our full submission here.