![]() ![]() There was another class who went into the country under pretence of looking for work, which they sought for in places where they knew it was not to be found. Though many of them swelled the list of vagrants, yet it was not of that description he complained. A great many poor shopkeepers who were reduced very low, became pedlars, and were virtually vagrants, as they travelled without a license but these poor people were, for the most part, driven to this by their necessities. At present, the country was over-run with paupers-not persons who were really distressed, but by idle vagrants, who did not wish to work, and who made a sub. The spirit of our Poor Laws never was, that the idle and sturdy should be supported but that work should be found, if possible, for those who were able and willing to work, and who could not procure it by ordinary exertions. ![]() and if all the collateral expenses were included, he did not doubt that they would be little short of 100,000 l. but by a return made to the House, it would appear that in 1820, that expense was increased to 58,605 l. Colquhoun, it appeared that the expense incurred for passing vagrants in the year 1806 was 15,000 l. In the very able work on Indigence, published by that enlightened and accurate magistrate, the late Mr. To show how this branch had increased, he would mention only one fact. Among other items by which the latter had been considerably increased, was that of the passing and maintaining of vagrants. It was notorious that the county rates had of late years increased to a very great extent in every part of the kingdom, and it was equally notorious that the great burthen of them fell upon the already distressed agriculturists for, by several decisions in the courts of law, it seemed now settled, that money lent on interest on mortgage, or vested in the funds, was not liable to poor or county rates. The subject, he observed, was of very considerable importance, whether considered in a moral or pecuniary point of view. It concludes with a call for a state-level solution to end the expensive and inhumane treatment of some of California's most vulnerable residents.Rose pursuant to the notice which he had given respecting the Vagrant Laws. Through extensive archival research and case studies of several cities, the report presents detailed evidence of the growing enactment and enforcement of municipal anti-homeless laws in recent decades as cities engage in a race to the bottom to push out homeless people. Cities have responded by enacting and enforcing new vagrancy laws - a wide range of municipal codes that target or disproportionately impact homeless people. The state legislature has done little to respond to this widespread problem, forcing municipal governments to address homelessness with local laws and resources. ![]() More than one in five homeless people in the country lives in California, and two-thirds are unsheltered. Although such laws have generally been struck down by courts as unconstitutionally vague, today’s “vagrants” are homeless people, who face growing harassment and punishment for their presence in public. Whether the objects of pity or scorn, vagrants could be cited or jailed under laws selectively enforced against anyone deemed undesirable. Vagrancy laws conjure up a distant past when authorities punished people without a home or permanent residence. ![]()
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