Support the Labour Homelessness Campaign Model Conference Motion

Please could you circulate the attached model motion by the Labour Homelessness Campaign opposing the criminalisation of homelessness. It’s very important that we get this through to conference via CLP’s.

The Labour Homelessness Campaign are doing some brilliant work and can also be found on FB and Twitter.

Many thanks

Jo Shemmans

Say No to the Birmingham PSPO

 

Homelessness – Model Conference Motion

Conference notes:

1. That as homelessness has risen drastically since 2010, there are a number of measures in place which can criminalise begging and rough sleeping, including the 1824 Vagrancy Act, Public Space Protection Orders, Criminal Behaviour Orders, Community Protection Notices and dispersal orders.

2. That so-called ‘enforcement’ measures criminalising people for living in public spaces affect more than 70% of people experiencing homelessness (Crisis).

3. That Jeremy Corbyn and the shadow cabinet pledged to repeal the Vagrancy Act once in government saying ‘homeless people need help, not punishment’, yet Labour has not yet come out against the other measures which criminalise homelessness.

4. That migrants experiencing homelessness are at risk of further ‘enforcement’ measures, and those with ‘No Recourse To Public Funds’ (NRPF) status can face being denied support and threatened with deportation as a result of interacting with services.

Conference resolves:

1. To call on all local authorities, including Labour councils, to cease use of all the above measures which would criminalise rough sleeping and begging.

2. To call on all local authorities to cease the practice of embedding Home Office immigration officers in their local services, as denying support to migrants is driving the crisis on our streets.

3. To include in the next general election manifesto repeal of the 1824 Vagrancy Act, an end to all powers to regard begging or rough sleeping as ‘anti-social behaviour’, and the abolition of NRPF status.