Thread by @mj_sprackland

All day from my desk I've been able to see the person who sits outside the Sainsbury's. It's been raining all afternoon; people hurrying past, though many stop to chat and offer money. Feeling furious at it all, the stupidity of it, the sadness.

We MUST vote the Tories out, now.

It's awful. What's struck me today is the additional discomfort, on top of rain, cold, hunger, of it being too dark to read; too wet to write or do a crossword, no music – the fact of being so alone with your thoughts when your thoughts must be so heavy. We're not built for this.

Every two hours – every TWO HOURS – someone becomes street homeless for the first time. And that's in London alone, and doesn't account for those who have been street homeless previously. The numbers are obscene.

And it's laughable that some of you are pretending that austerity isn't to blame for this. Nine years of cuts by the government mean that there's £1bn gone from services for (single) homeless people each year. If you think that's irrelevant then I'm afraid you're dim, or worse.

And then there's the fact that we still have the frankly dystopian Vagrancy Act on the books – not only on the books, but enforced. The wording for this suggests a lucid, modern understanding, no?

Just so we're clear – this makes it illegal to be homeless.

Last year there were 1,320 prosecutions under the Act – an increase on the previous year. Begging is subject to a maximum fine of a grand. And even when the Act isn't used, police can worm around it by prosecuting rough sleepers under a public space protection order (PSPO).

In 1981 there was an attempt to repeal it, but (unsurprisingly, given that we were under Thatcher) it didn't stand much of a chance.

A coalition of charities and orgs – @crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru and others – are working to #ScraptheAct

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru The government's promised to review it. The minister for housing and homelessness, Heather Wheeler, voted for the Bedroom Tax, against raising benefits in line with prices, against spending money on helping unemployed young people into work, etc., etc.

theyworkforyou.com/mp/24769/heath…

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru (As well as other classics: against gay rights, against same-sex marriage, against investigations into the Iraq war, against EU-nationals' right to remain, predictably. The whole distasteful mess.)

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru The record of Labour's shadow housing sec, John Healey, is somewhat less shitty.

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru Whichever why you try and cut it, justify it, diminish it, ignore it, under the Tories homelessness here has doubled.

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour have pledged to repeal that same Vagrancy Act – it's hard to see the Tories doing the same. Have a look at Labour's manifesto, if you haven't already (and, by all means, read the Tories' as well, and compare the two).

labour.org.uk/manifesto/tack…

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour No, the Tories don't mention the Act. In fact, this single paragraph is the only bit in the manifesto about homelessness. The stamp duty would bring £120m in revenues – not enough. Remember that £1bn per year hole they've torn in the budgets of homelessness services?

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour Labour, on the other hand, commit that full £1bn to council homelessness services. In addition, they'll bring in a levy on holiday homes, many of which sit empty whilst someone else is sitting on the pavement, in the rain, over the road by the Sainsbury's.

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour They'll tax the rich, making the top 5%, those lucky enough to be on £80k or more, pay what they should pay, and reverse the cuts to inheritance tax designed to benefit the wealthiest.

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour Oh, look, you know all this. You can find this stuff out. Read the manifestos, seek out resources published by the experts, by charities and homeless organisations, think critically, campaign for repeal of the Vagrancy Act, register to vote.

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour #VoteLabour – because it will make a difference. It will effect change.

@crisis_uk @HomelessLink @StMungos @TheWallich @ShelterCymru @UKLabour And in the meantime put your scarf on and go outside and give someone a fucking sandwich and a conversation, and try – by this, by voting, by campaigning – to tell the people sleeping rough on our streets that they matter, that they're not disposable or invisible or undeserving.