Vagrancy is the state of being homeless or idle, without work. People who are vagrants often travel from place to place without a residence or means of sustaining themselves. In the context of the law, in Colonial America and during other periods, there were laws that forbade or otherwise regulated vagrancy.
In the modern times, the term vagrancy has largely been replaced with the word homelessness. The historical laws regarding vagrancy have been amended many times during the hundreds of years since the colonial period.
Currently, there are many homeless shelters in America and programs for providing charity to, or otherwise trying to aid the vagrant population. However, vagrancy or homelessness still occurs in America. Vagrants are no longer automatically accused of crimes or punished as they once were.