Suella Braverman

A HOMELESSNESS charity has vowed to continue handing out tents even if the practice were criminalised.

Streets Kitchen has rejected Suella Braverman’s description of homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” – rhetoric paired with proposals to fine charities who give tents to the homeless.

The organisation, a group that runs mobile food outreach across Islington and Camden, have made an ongoing pledge to give out tents to rough sleepers when they have them.

In the past week, the group gave out 20 “shelter suits” to rough sleepers. “If we had more we would give out more,” said volunteer Elodie Berland, adding: “Bring it on.”

The last count, conducted over spring and summer of this year, showed a total of 279 people sleeping on Camden’s streets. Ms Berland warned these figures are inaccurate, and serve only to give a “rough idea” of the extent of homelessness in the borough.

Ms Berland said Streets Kitchen is providing more food than they were this time last year. She said: “It’s getting worse and worse.” She added: “We’re going to stand up, we’re going to carry on. It’s palliative care that we’re doing at the moment, and tents, if anything, save lives. They save lives.”

She said of Ms Braverman’s comments: “How can it be a lifestyle choice? She needs to come on outreach. She needs to get out there and see exactly what’s going on. We see people in terrible conditions, and it’s completely heartbreaking.”

Ms Berland knows of people living in a broken tent who are already being pressured to “move on” from their current location. “It’s the only thing that keeps them a little bit safe. They said ‘if we have to move, even if it’s just to the next place, the tent is going to break down.’”

Even without a new civil offence, Ms Berland said homeless people are “already having their belongings taken away by CPOs [Community Protection Orders]”.

Ms Braverman had pitched the proposals for inclusion in the King’s Speech, delivered on Tuesday, which sets out the government’s legislative agenda for the coming year.

But the ensuing row over Ms Braverman’s comments means the government yesterday (Wednesday) delayed publishing its draft criminal justice bill while ministers consider the home secretary’s proposals.

Ms Berland said of Ms Braverman’s comments: “It’s almost like she’s making it more visible, she’s voicing it out. But it’s criminalisation [of homelessness]. It doesn’t make any sense at all.”