Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has sought reassurance for a “comprehensive approach” to dealing with issues involved in rough sleeping and begging.
The council was responding to a Department of Justice consultation on its plans to decriminalise both by repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824 and Vagrancy (Ireland) Act 1847.
In its response, the council said it agrees with Justice Minister Naomi Long’s view it is inappropriate to criminalise people who are “simply begging or sleeping rough” and who are “not otherwise behaving in a manner that would attract criminal sanction”.
The local authority stated it would seek assurance there is a commitment to ensure “adequate strategic planning and resourcing” to properly roll out and maintain a comprehensive multi-agency approach to tackle the underlying complex issues involved in rough sleeping and begging.
It is also seeking steps to be put in place or strengthen existing legal powers that will deal with aspects of public safety such as disorderly behaviour or harassment where begging and rough sleeping are taking place.
The council’s response was approved at a meeting of the Neighbourhoods and Communities Committee, in The Braid, Ballymena, on Tuesday evening.
A report to the committee said:
“Rough sleeping has not been a particular issue within the borough to date. Incidents of begging in town centres are more common, but in general, this is not reported as aggressive or causing persistent annoyance to members of the public or businesses.
“The consultation document acknowledges that street drinking is a problem and that the existing council by-law system relating to drinking in public places and associated anti-social behaviour needs changed.”
The Simon Community charity believes one in 34 people meets the official definition of homelessness in Northern Ireland. In 2023, 55,500 people were deemed legally homeless across Northern Ireland.
The charity’s annual report 2023/24 showed it took nearly 18,000 calls from people needing help, a 12% increase in demand since the previous year. A toal of 653 people were able to stay in the charity’s 21 temporary accommodation premises across Northern Ireland. Thirty-four per cent were under the age of 25.
During the past five years, the Simon Community has provided one million nights of accommodation or support for people with nowhere else to go.
The Simon Community says:
“We must not only provide every opportunity for people in our temporary accommodation to be able to move on to their own homes, but we must also develop a plan which would meaningfully prevent many from falling into homelessness in the first place.”