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News & Blogs Fining People £1,000 for Being Homeless Is a New Low for London

landpirate

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http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/crim...-a-new-low-for-london-733?utm_source=vicefbuk

Fining People £1,000 for Being Homeless Is a New Low for London
June 4, 2015


by Mark Wilding

criminalising-the-homeless-is-a-new-low-for-london-733-body-image-1433414449.jpg


A homeless man in Hackney (Photo by Tom Johnson)

Imagine you have almost nothing in the world. No job, no home, no possessions. You have no material wealth at all. The only thing you have is your right to exist, your only possession your right to sit, to sleep, to literally just be.

Now imagine having that taken from you as well.

This pretty much just happened, in London. Not in Qatar, or Russia, or one of countless other places where human rights abuses are about as common as passing traffic.

This happened in Hackney, where the council recently introduced a Public Space Protection Order allowing police and council officers to issue fines of up to £1,000 for a range of so-called offences including begging, loitering and rough sleeping.

In other words, a London borough just criminalised being homeless.

Homeless people have faced an increasing infringement of their rights in recent years. Until now, this has largely been driven by the private sector, which uses armies of security guards and "defensive architecture" such as anti-homeless spikes and anti-sleeping benches to ensure only the right kind of people are allowed access to their properties. This is itself a problem, given the rate at which public space is being seized by the grasping hands of private companies. But the fact that a local authority – a body which has a duty to protect its most vulnerable residents – is criminalising homelessness, marks a shocking escalation of an already disturbing trend.

criminalising-the-homeless-is-a-new-low-for-london-733-body-image-1433414490.jpg


(Photo by Tom Johnson)

Jon Sparkes, chief executive at homelessness charity Crisis described Hackney's policy as "counter-productive", pointing out that "people in desperate circumstances deserve better than to be treated as a nuisance". Mark McPherson, director of strategy at Homeless Link, said, "any move to criminalise sleeping rough could simply create additional problems to be overcome". In Oxford, a similar proposed ban on rough sleeping was scrapped after an outcry during the consultation process. By contrast, Hackney Council didn't bother conducting a public consultation before introducing the policy. If they had, they might have heard from tens of thousands of people who have signed a petition calling for the rough sleeping ban to be lifted.

All this probably shouldn't come as a surprise. This is a local authority which, when it's not harassing rough sleepers, goes about bulldozing historic buildings, clamping down on nightlife, and generally turning its patch of East London into one big gentrification Disneyland where the strict rules and expensive food are all worthwhile so long as the value of Sleeping Beauty's Castle keeps rocketing upwards every year. But making homelessness illegal? This is a new low.

The council has claimed that enforcement will be a last option and that the order is intended to persuade rough sleepers to take up the help that is on offer. By doing so, it suggests that anyone still sleeping rough is doing so out of choice and is engaged in "persistent anti-social behaviour". Speaking to charities working with homeless people in the area, they tell a different story, pointing out that certain groups such as immigrants are often ineligible for hostel accommodation unless they agree to return to their home countries.

Reasons for the policy apparently include people "fighting" and "spitting on passers-by". That stuff is not cool, but is clearly already illegal. Other parts of the policy seem reasonable on the face of it – like banning people from "defecating in a public place". Except it's not that reasonable when the number of public toilets is in decline and you can't afford to be a customer in a bouji café or a cocktail bar. It's not like anyone's shitting in the street for a laugh.

Watch out film about the battle to live in London – Regeneration Game:

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/regeneration-game


Other offences are so gloriously vague it would seem almost impossible to avoid breaking them. How long do you have to stand around before it counts as loitering? The council argues that it's not seeking to criminalise homelessness, but would it really be possible for a homeless person to go a day without committing any of these offences? The £1,000 penalty makes the policy as laughable as it is outrageous. In case you missed it, homeless people tend to be a bit short on cash. They might as well ask for payment in magic beans.

Over on Noisey: British Music Is Booming Right Now
So far, despite mounting outrage over the policy, the council has refused to back down. Deputy mayor Sophie Linden published a statement which said Hackney's residents have a "right to live in a safe, non-threatening environment", which raises troubling questions about who decides what's "safe" and "non-threatening", and why homeless people don't also share that right.

Hackney's Public Space Protection Order does the exact opposite of protecting public space. By outlawing the "anti-social", it destroys the social function of our public spaces, where people from all walks of life interact. It's bad enough that our cities are being bought up by corporations with a stronger responsibility to their bottom line than to the poor and disenfranchised, without public authorities going down the same path. Public spaces should be for everyone – not least those who have no private spaces to call their own.

In the opening paragraph of his 2001 book, Tearing Down the Streets, professor Jeff Ferrell wrote: "Something's gone wrong. Something has shifted away, away from what it means to live our lives together in public, away from a sense of the city as an open, inclusive community." Nearly 15 years on, things are still going wrong. And it seems they're only getting worse.

@mark_wilding
 

lone wolf

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if what i've been reading is accurate you won't see any homeless in the near future. once BRICS gains traction and more countries join, a war on US soil will occur bringing in the NWO.

we will all be in concentration camps or dead... yeah, probably not the comment you were looking for but the current situation appears to be heading in that direction.

it is disguised as being against the nwo but in reality BRICS = NWO. nothing happens in this world with out the approval of the central banks.
 
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Kal

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Government gone crazy, and lone wolf is right this is why I am always learning new survival skills so when the shit hits the fan I will go to the woods.
 
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Jaguwar

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"Deputy mayor Sophie Linden published a statement which said Hackney's residents have a "right to live in a safe, non-threatening environment", which raises troubling questions about who decides what's "safe" and "non-threatening", and why homeless people don't also share that right."

Uh... because they don't pay taxes, and the government can't suck off their teat. Simple.

Lest we forget, this is what government does. It has always been this way, to some degree or another. The fact that this are getting worse in a country that seems to have more CCTVs per capita than Americans have guns should come as no real surprise to any thinking human being.
 
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Durp

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Fuck..... this world is entering a new guilded age.... but worse. God damn, I better learn some marketable skill so I can emigrate to the Netherlands.
 
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troublefunk

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Sadly this isnt just London,it's U.K. wide(certainly England wide).
Doing it in my city and the piss poor justification is that my city is a tourist town and it's not a great image to portray to our international visitor's aka walking wallet's to our chamber of commerce.
As mentioned that just being homeless mean's you're set up to break numerous 'law's' several time's per day....UTTER BULLSHIT!!!

For what it's worth there is a Change.org online petition
https://www.change.org/p/cheshire-w...Y&utm_source=petition_update&utm_medium=email
 

Anagor

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Fuck that "anti-social behaviour" bullshit! What is "anti-social" in sleeping rough in your sleeping bag in front of a store (to have some protection against rain) or on a beach, just hoping to be left alone until next morning? What is "anti-social" in drinking a can of cider outside and just enjoying the sunrise/sunset, whatever?

If it is really "anti-social" like aggressive begging, harassing people, etc. I would understand.

But wtf? I slept rough in London and Brighton. I drank outside every day I was there. I even asked for spare change. ;) And I consider myself as a quite social person. In fact I consider the most people I met on the streets more social than all those juppies coming up with such idiotic laws.
 
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troublefunk

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Fuck that "anti-social behaviour" bullshit! What is "anti-social" in sleeping rough in your sleeping bag in front of a store (to have some protection against rain) or on a beach, just hoping to be left alone until next morning? What is "anti-social" in drinking a can of cider outside and just enjoying the sunrise/sunset, whatever?

If it is really "anti-social" like aggressive begging, harassing people, etc. I would understand.

But wtf? I slept rough in London and Brighton. I drank outside every day I was there. I even asked for spare change. ;) And I consider myself as a quite social person. In fact I consider the most people I met on the streets more social than all those juppies coming up with such idiotic laws.

In my city we have huge horse racing meeting's,i mean like 20,00 people come to town and they are the f.... WORST people for anti social behaviour but the city LOVE'S them because they spend thousand's of pound's here.Our city look's like a bomb site after race day's...not to mention the vomit,urine and crap in the door way's.......Hey what can i say,we're a cultured bunch over here in the U.K. ;) Oh yeah and how can i forget the ever present threat of random act's of violence from people who've been drinking from sunrise to sunset on their day at the race's.
I work with our homeless day centre and the only people the homeless tend to fight with are each other.
It's a bullshit law to criminalise the most vulnerable in society.I've emailed my local MP about it..aint holding my breath for a reply.
 
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Sunshine

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This makes me incredibly sad and disappointed.

I once slept in Victoria station because I missed the last train out of London and hadnt made other arrangements. I wasnt about to go shlepping about trying to find a hotel, so I made like a homeless person and slept at the station. At that time (around 2007) there were a lot of other people there... not one person bothered me or confronted me. I was super impressed: apparently less hostility toward the "homeless" than there is here in the US.

I guess thats about to change. How incredibly unfortunate.
 
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troublefunk

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Try and sleep at Victoria now and they'll be twice as many people due to the draconian cut's to public service's.
Dont get me wrong,i'm not saying people should get a free ride but when charities funding is cut and they end up folding only for private companies such as G4S to move in i call buuuuuuuuuuullllshit!! So many politicians have ties to these companies it's all BS.
Aint i just a ray of sunshine today ;) It's a sad fact that the future is bleak atm.You are right - thing's really are about to change.
Oh and dont get me started on the huge rise in people in the U.K. using foodbank's! I mean working people who still fall below the poverty line.
We're a wealthy Western/European country and people are having to resort to using foodbanks..wtf?
 

Anagor

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I once slept in Victoria station because I missed the last train out of London and hadnt made other arrangements. I wasnt about to go shlepping about trying to find a hotel, so I made like a homeless person and slept at the station. At that time (around 2007) there were a lot of other people there... not one person bothered me or confronted me. I was super impressed: apparently less hostility toward the "homeless" than there is here in the US.

I slept there twice. Not in the station itself, but in front of a bulding between Victoria and Victoria Coach Station (just opposite the Starbucks). First time it was late, I was tired and in no mood to find a bed in a hostel (and walk there), so I tried it out. Second time I was stuck in London without money cause Western Union had server problems (and my cash card was drawn in by the atm in Brighton). No problems, on the contrary. Second time people came and kicked down something to eat (2 wraps and later leftover french fries). :)

Try and sleep at Victoria now and they'll be twice as many people due to the draconian cut's to public service's.

There are a lot of people at the station and surrounding areas, yes. And obviously - at least for the time being - it's tolerated even in conservative Westminster (as long as you're quite, just sleep there and don't make a mess).

That's why I tried it out the first time (sleeping in public) there. Seemed to be quite safe and people seemed not to be hassled by police.
 

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