Image taken during the March Against Racism in central London on Saturday on 18 March. A protestor holds a sign reading 'No One Leaves Home Unless Home Is The Mouth Of A Shark'.

Poppy Lindsey

Unfortunately, I’d become accustomed to Suella Braverman’s seemingly never-ending ideas about making vulnerable people’s lives harder. But when I saw her claim that Britain’s homeless population live on the streets as a lifestyle choice, my jaw physically dropped. 

What Did Braverman Say?

The Financial Times revealed that former Home Secretary Suella Braverman was seeking to restrict the use of tents by people experiencing homelessness in urban areas, to tackle the rising numbers of rough sleepers on Britain’s high streets. The proposal also included a new civil offence to deter charities from providing tents to unhoused peoples, resulting in a fine if the tents cause a ‘nuisance’. 

The obvious initial response probably contains expletives, but the next: Will banning tents stop homelessness?

“Braverman is yet another Tory guilty of incessantly complaining about consequences of policies she herself created”

Last time I checked, the main causes of homelessness include poverty, systemic inequality and discrimination, and the cost-of-living crisis, rather than excitement at the thought of pitching a tent outside a shop doorway in sub-zero temperatures. 

Braverman continued her hateful drivel on Twitter/X: “We [I personally count myself out of this gross generalisation] cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.”

But why?

It was an interesting decision to refer to people from abroad sleeping rough. If she’s referring to these tents, they exist in large part because of her own cruel policies on immigration. 

As Home Secretary, Braverman was known for mercilessly targeting those seeking asylum in the UK, consistently citing her “dream” of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda from her first stint in the role in September 2022. 

In October 2022, just six days after being reappointed by newly-elected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Braverman faced backlash for her claims that southern England was facing an “invasion” of illegal immigrants.

Braverman is yet another Tory guilty of incessantly complaining about consequences of policies she herself created, before she was notably sacked as Home Secretary twice in little more than a year. The Conservative Party generally uses the political tactic — particularly during election periods — of highlighting the problems with the current state of the country, too often without acknowledging that they’ve been in power for the last 13 years. 

Reaction to Braverman’s Comments

In response, homelessness charity Crisis UK penned an open letter to Braverman, stating the true reasons for homelessness and sharing their exasperation at the assumption of sleeping on the street being a “lifestyle choice.” The charity called for a reversal of the proposal to criminalise the use of tents by people sleeping rough. 

They stated: “Laying blame with people forced to sleep rough will only push people further away from help into poverty, putting them at risk of exploitation.” 

“Vulnerable people risk dying preventable deaths at the hands of those elected to protect us”

The signatures of the open letter, including CEOs of fifteen charities supporting the homeless and refugees, also disclosed harrowing statistics throughout their report. The average age of death for people experiencing homelessness is just 45 for men and 43 for women. 

And in the last week, a man sleeping rough in Birmingham was set alight, inflicting potentially life-changing injuries.

What Now?

According to the Big Issue, 10,053 people experienced homelessness on London’s streets between April 2022 and March 2023. The true number is almost certainly higher: women are often missing from counts due to being less visible than male rough sleepers, attributed to the risk of violence on the streets. 

So it remains mystifying — even embarrassing — how the former Home Secretary referred to homelessness a lifestyle choice.

On 13th November, Braverman was sacked by Prime Minster Rishi Sunak, amid a much-needed cabinet reshuffle. Her plans to restrict tents being handed out to homeless people on the streets were also scrapped by Sunak. However, Braverman’s vitriolic discourse on homelessness will live on, with far-right activists seeing their dangerous views represented in mainstream politics more and more.

Once again, vulnerable people risk dying preventable deaths at the hands of those elected to protect us. 

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Featured image courtesy of Alisdare Hickson via Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

Poppy graduated from the University of Reading in June 2022, with a degree in Philosophy and Politics. She currently works as Welfare Officer at Reading Students Union, and is starting formal journalism training in September 2023 at News Associates. She has a keen interest in human rights, social action, and the intersectional feminist movement.

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