From 29 June 2026, the Vagrancy Act 1824 is repealed, removing the law that has long been used to criminalise rough sleeping and begging. In its announcement, the government said the change is intended to end a punitive approach that treated visible homelessness as an enforcement issue rather than a housing and support failure. Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the repeal marks a move from punishment to prevention, while Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern described it as a long-overdue update to the law. The measure is being presented as the legal starting point for a wider homelessness strategy rather than a stand-alone reform.
The Vagrancy Act was introduced in 1824, in the period after the Napoleonic Wars and during rapid industrial change. According to the government, its use has fallen sharply in modern times, but it has still been used on occasion to move people on, expose them to fines or criminal records, and make later engagement with support services harder. For local authorities, police and homelessness charities, the repeal changes the basic legal frame. Rough sleeping in itself is no longer to be treated through this historic offence, which means the success of the policy will depend more directly on outreach capacity, temporary accommodation and access to settled housing.
The repeal sits alongside the National Plan to End Homelessness, which the government said is backed by £3.6 billion over the next three years. The plan sets two headline objectives for this Parliament: halving long-term rough sleeping and ending the unlawful use of bed and breakfast accommodation for families. The plan also sets system targets beyond the street response. Ministers said they want to halve the number of people who become homeless on their first night after leaving prison, ensure that no eligible person is discharged from hospital to the street, and establish a longer-term expectation that no one should leave a public institution into homelessness.
Delivery will depend heavily on local funding. The government said £159 million within the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant will support more stable housing routes in 40 areas with the highest need, with more than 2,500 people expected to move off the streets or avoid rough sleeping altogether. Alongside that, a £37 million Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund is supporting voluntary, community and faith organisations, while a £15 million Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme is focused on 28 areas facing the most persistent pressures. Ministers have also allocated £950 million to improve the supply of good-quality temporary accommodation and reduce use of the poorest forms of provision, especially family placements in B&Bs.
The government is linking homelessness reform to a larger housing programme. It has committed £39 billion over ten years for social and affordable housing, which ministers describe as the biggest long-term investment of its kind in a generation. Government figures cited in the announcement show 42,499 affordable housing starts by Homes England and the Greater London Authority in 2025-26, up 26 per cent on 2024-25 and 35 per cent on 2023-24. Affordable housing completions rose to 43,104 in 2025-26, an annual increase of 8 per cent, and starts under the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme reached 117,947, above the lower end of the published target range of 110,000 to 130,000. For policymakers, that data matters because the repeal of a criminal statute will not by itself reduce homelessness unless housing supply and access improve at the same time.
Prevention measures elsewhere in housing law are also part of the package. Ministers said the Renters' Rights Act will abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions, a route into homelessness for many private renters, while the forthcoming Social Housing Bill will strengthen protections for victims of domestic abuse in social housing. The government cited Rough Sleeping Questionnaire 2025 findings showing that nearly 70 per cent of women who experienced rough sleeping in the previous year had experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16. In policy terms, that places domestic abuse prevention within mainstream homelessness strategy rather than treating it as a separate issue.
The repeal does not remove other enforcement tools. The government said existing powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 remain available where conduct causes harassment or distress, and statutory guidance will be updated to make clear that those powers should not be used simply because a person is homeless. Ministers also said new offences in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 will be used against organised begging gangs, people exploited for financial gain and trespass linked to criminal activity. The distinction is central to the new approach: rough sleeping itself is no longer the basis for criminal sanction, but behaviour linked to harm, exploitation or organised offending can still trigger intervention.
Homelessness organisations publicly backed the repeal. Crisis, St Mungo's, Housing Justice and Homeless Link each said the change ends an outdated model that penalised people with nowhere safe to stay and discouraged some from seeking help. Their support is significant because those organisations work directly with outreach teams, hostels, day centres and local authority partners. The government also used the announcement to remind the public about StreetLink following recent record temperatures, asking people to alert local authorities if they see someone sleeping rough and in need of support. The legal change takes effect at once, but the longer test will be implementation: whether funding, housing supply and local service capacity are strong enough to turn repeal into fewer people on the streets.