Southwark Council is set to decriminalise rough sleeping, marking a significant shift in its approach to tackling homelessness in the borough. This move addresses the current legal framework based on the Vagrancy Act 1824, which criminalises rough sleeping.
The decision came as part of a broader discussion at the Council Assembly meeting on 9 July 2025, detailed in the Public Reports Pack. Councillor Natasha Ennin, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Neighbourhoods, presented a motion outlining the council's commitment to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, working with communities, and investing in prevention.
Within the approved motion, titled Keeping Southwark Safe: Fighting crime and the causes of crime, was the plan to decriminalise rough sleeping. In addition to this commitment, the council will appoint a new Rough Sleeper Coordinator to help progress toward the council's ambitions to end rough sleeping.
Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of St Mungo's, welcomed the move, stating, The repeal of the Vagrancy Act, which criminalises rough sleeping, cannot come soon enough… The answer is not to criminalise people for living on the streets but instead to focus on tackling the health, housing and wider societal issues that are causing homelessness in the first place.
