In Birmingham, arrests and charges under the Vagrancy Act have fallen markedly in recent years despite a surge in rough sleeping. But rough sleepers in the city centre say police regularly use the law to move them on. Nationally, there were 1,320 prosecutions under the Vagrancy Act in 2018, a 6% increase from the previous year. “Since coming to Blackpool I’ve now had 13 charges under the Vagrancy Act and I’ve also been taken to court twice for it. There are people with mental health problems that have basic accommodation of some sort and head into the city centre for company.

Source: The Guardian June 19, 2019 04:52 UTC