‘Appalling’ proposal for homeless people

Gold Coast councillor Brooke Patterson wants the vagrancy act – abolished by the Queensland government in 2004 – to be brought back to help with the scourge of violent and anti-social behaviour exacerbated by some of the city’s homeless.

She says while it “sounds harsh” it ultimately will help the vulnerable people who the state government “simply refuses” to provide housing for.

She said she met with her local state representative for homelessness housing earlier this week in the presence of local health, police and community representatives.

“These are a group who are aggressive, sometimes violent, anti-social rough sleepers, with major drug and alcohol dependencies and often mental health issues,” Cr Patterson told NCA NewsWire.

“The reason for not housing them is the state government does not wish to allocate more than 10 per cent of their current crisis accommodation budget to repairing the damage to the motels the state government rents and houses people in – I can appreciate that.

“(But) by washing their hands of it, the state government leaves this matter to be an issue for residents, students and business owners.

“If the state government thinks this group is too aggressive and anti-social for them to contend with from a housing perspective, they need to come up with some other way of dealing with the issues, rather than leaving it to residents and business owners.”

Earlier this year, the state announced a $237m housing policy, but Cr Patterson slammed it as a “white elephant”.

“The government … is currently decriminalising some of the shocking behaviours we have to deal with on our streets by the people they refuse to house, like public defecation, offering of drugs to students, etc,” she said.

The vagrancy act was introduced in 1931, and stated that anyone who was homeless, that being someone who did not have “visible lawful means of support” could be fined $100.

Those unable to pay could be sentenced to up to six months in prison.

The term “vagrant” also applied to anyone who begged for money, or offered fortune telling for money.

The vagrancy act was abolished by Queensland in 2004, but Cr Patterson said given the number of homeless people dying on the streets today, it was time to bring the laws back.

She said in doing so, homeless people could be put in a jail cell, which would enable them proper health treatment and shelter.

In the parliament’s executive summary released for the repealing of the laws, a report said homeless persons were among the most criminalised of all Australians, and were mostly charged and imprisoned for minor offences.

“Many of the grounds of ‘vagrancy’ have become obsolete and, in contemporary society, regarded as somewhat peculiar,” the report said.

“The vagrancy provisions have been the subject of much derision and criticism.”

It is estimated more than 21,000 Queenslanders are homeless, with the crisis exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said it was “absolutely appalling” to suggest that vagrancy laws are a solution to housing.

“These laws saw our most vulnerable people imprisoned or left with large debts they could never repay,” she said.

Originally published as Gold Coast city councillor makes pitch to bring back vagrancy laws to help with homelessness