Our Research
Understanding the Link Between Gender Inequality and Housing
We conduct research to better understand how gender inequality affects women’s access to housing and the wider impact this has on society. By identifying the challenges women face when finding a home, we aim to influence housing policies and services to better meet their needs.
A Home of her own
In July 2019, we co-launched a report titled A Home of Her Own: Women and Housing with the Women’s Budget Group and Coventry Women’s Partnership.
Housing is one of the most pressing issues in the UK today. The housing crisis is not just about affordability—it is also gendered. The report reveals that women struggle to afford housing in every region of England.
Read the full report here
Read the executive summary here
View the slides from the launch event here here.
For renters
Nowhere in England is the average rental home affordable for a woman earning the median income. [1]
Men on median earnings can afford to rent in all regions except London and the Southeast.
On average, women spend 43% of their income on rent, compared to 28% for men.
When buying a house
Women need over 12 times their annual salary to buy a home, while men need just over eight times.
In London and the Southeast, housing is the least affordable—women need nearly 18 times their annual income to buy a home.
The biggest affordability gap between men and women is in the Southeast and East, where the gender pay gap is widest.
Mortgage eligibility:
The report also looked at how far men’s and women’s incomes fall short of what is needed for a mortgage:
In most regions, women’s incomes fall over 50% short of what’s needed to buy a home with a typical mortgage.
For men, this only applies in London and the Southeast.
Social Security and Housing
Housing benefit cuts since 2012 have severed the link between rent and benefits, leaving 90% of private renters on housing benefit facing shortfalls by 2015. [2]
Women make up 60% of housing benefit claimants, meaning they are disproportionately affected.
Universal Credit has made things worse. The five-week wait for the first payment often leads to rent arrears. Tenants on Universal Credit are six times more likely to fall behind on rent than other benefit claimants. [3]
The benefit cap hits larger families hardest, cutting housing benefit first when the limit is reached.
A shortage of social and affordable housing is making evictions and homelessness more common. [4]
Women and Homelessness
While 84% of rough sleepers [5] are men, women sleeping rough face unique risks, often linked to abuse, trauma, and violence [6]. They are also less likely to access support services.
67% of people who are legally recognised as homeless are women. [7]
Single mothers make up 66% of homeless families with children, even though they only account for 25% of all families with dependent children.
Read the press release for the report here.
[1] Housing is classed as unaffordable if it takes more than a third of income. Available at: https://bit.ly/2Gv1Kh1
[2] IFS (2017) The cost of housing for low-income renters. Available at: http://bit.ly/2uUVj0t
[3] The Independent (6 Feb 2019) ‘Universal credit claimants “six times more likely” to fall into rent arrears despite government reforms’. Available at: https://ind.pn/2YZVkhi
[4] The Guardian (18 Aug 2018) ‘No-fault evictions making hundreds of families homeless each week’. Available at: http://bit.ly/2QFPzSg
[5] MHCLG (2018) Rough sleeping in England. Table 2a. Available at: https://bit.ly/2TmAKEH
[6] MHCLG (2019) Causes of Homelessness and Rough Sleeping – Rapid Evidence Assessment. Available at: http://bit.ly/2P1gU0c
[7] WBG (2018) Housing and gender. Calculations based on MHCLG (2018) Livetables on acceptances and decisions. Available at: http://bit.ly/2UoWROu