History of Homelessness

Throughout history homelessness has been given many names vagrancy, vagabonding, tramping. Indeed, homeless people have been seen in different lights. Sometimes portrayed as romantic heroes maintaining their freedom to roam and refusing to accept the yoke of a capitalist, settled society but also as an existential threat to order and property. I spoke to Professor of Contemporary British History Nick Crowson in this episode of the podcast who has spent much of his career studying homelessness. We explored how homelessness has been seen throughout history, his efforts to find out more about the individuals involved, how the homeless are labelled by the legal system here in the UK and how the 1824 Vagrancy Act remains in force.