Suella Braverman has demanded a crackdown on tents used by the homeless, calling them a “lifestyle choice” for some rough sleepers.
The home secretary also warned that without action British cities would “go the way of places.. like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor”.
Those who are “genuinely homeless” would always be supported, she said.
But the UK’s streets must not be “overtaken” by rows of tents “occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice”.
She said that “nobody in Britain should be living in a tent” and that the government was working to help the homeless, including through treatment for those with drug and alcohol addiction.
She added that she wanted to stop those who cause nuisance and distress to other people, after reports she is pushing to restrict the use of tents and even fine charities who hand them out.
But she was condemned by one ex-Tory MP who said the move would be “actually evil”.
Ben Howlett also said “not a single MP with any shred of decency” could support such a policy.
The British Red Cross recently warned that since August they have seen a 140 per cent increase the people with refugee status becoming destitute.
They said they were having to hand out sleeping bags and tents to people who are facing life on the streets.
Ms Braverman is understood to be drawing up plans to deter charities from giving tents to rough sleepers through the introduction of a new civil offence, according to The Financial Times. This would means charities could be fined for giving tents to homeless people if they go on to cause a public nuisance.
Shelter, the homeless charity, estimated earlier this year that at least 271,000 people are recorded as homeless in England, including 123,000 children.
Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy said: “Even by this government’s standards, this is disgraceful. Imagine looking at the housing and homelessness crisis you’ve presided over and thinking, let’s take away their tents.”
Matt Downie, the chief executive of the charity Crisis, said new laws to crack down on the use of tents would do little to tackle rough sleeping but risked pushing people further into destitution.
“Ending rough sleeping is absolutely possible but it requires government to step up and make the changes needed that will actually achieve it, including investing in housing benefit so people can afford their rent. Stripping people of their only protection is not the answer,” he said.
The Conservative manifesto pledged to end rough sleeping before the bext election, which must take place by January 2025. But in September, the Governmeng was warned by the Kerslake Commission, a panel of 36 experts, that it was not on target to meet that goal.
Instead, figures published earlier this year show the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough in England had risen for the first time since 2017.
A snapshot of a single night in autumn last year found 3,069 people sleeping rough, up 626 (26 per cent) on the equivalent total for the previous year and nearly three-quarters (74 per cent higher than in 2010 when the figures began.