Our Purpose

The Women’s Housing Forum works to highlight the link between women’s housing needs and gender inequality. We bring social housing providers and key partners together to find solutions to these issues. 

At the heart of our work is intersectionality — this means we recognise that women face different and overlapping inequalities. These may be linked to race, sexuality, age, disability, income, or other factors, alongside gender. 

Key principles

To achieve our goals, the Forum will: 

• Champion the role of social housing providers in tackling discrimination that prevents women from accessing and keeping suitable housing. 

• Share existing research and commission new studies to explore the links between gender inequality and women’s housing needs—and the wider impact of not addressing these issues. 

• Recognise how intersectionality affects different groups of women, including those facing barriers due to race, sexuality, age, religion, disability, and income. 

• Use research and best practice from the housing sector and beyond to identify practical steps social housing providers can take to better support women. 

• Build and maintain partnerships beyond social housing, including with local and national government, to strengthen collaboration. 

• Consider the local and regional factors affecting housing issues to develop targeted solutions that improve women’s access to safe, stable housing. 

• Work transparently and openly, keeping social housing providers and other stakeholders informed and sharing insights to drive change.