Women, young girls & homelessness

Women are more likely to be amongst the hidden homelessness, with incidents of rough sleeping amongst women underreported (Source: Kesia Reeve, Women and homelessness: putting gender back on the agenda, 2018).

Women may be forced to sleep with someone for accommodation, known as ‘survival sex’: of 400 single homeless people surveyed in 2011, 20% of women had engaged in sex work to pay for a hotel (3% of men), 28% had spent the night with someone specifically to accommodate themselves (14% of men) and 19% had engaged in sex work to enable them to spend a night with a client (3% of men) (Source: Kesia Reeve and Elaine Batty, The Hidden Truth about Homelessness, 2011).

Homelessness affects women: of 56,580 households accepted as homeless in England in 2017/18, 47% were lone mothers with dependent children (4% lone fathers). A further 10% were lone female applicants (14% lone males). (Source: MHCLG, Table 780: Household type. Households accepted by local authorities as owed a main homelessness duty by household type, England) - For 6,820 of these households (12%), they lost their home due to the violent breakdown of a former relationship (Source, MHCLG, Table 773: Reason for acceptance. Households accepted by local authorities as owed a main homelessness duty by priority need category, England)

79,880 households in England were living in temporary accommodation in quarter 1 2018 – 45% of these were lone mothers with dependent children (3% lone fathers) and 8% lone females (12% lone males). (Source: MHCLG, Table 782: Household types in temporary accommodation. Households in temporary accommodation at the end of the quarter by type of household, England)

Women leaving prison – many women lose their homes while in custody and 60% of women prisoners may not have homes to go to on release (Source: Prison Reform Trust and Women in Prison, Home Truths: housing for women in the criminal justice system, 2016).

In a recent survey of homelessness and housing services, when asked to report the types of multiple disadvantage that women present with, 97% of respondents reported that they are either ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ supporting women with experience of mental ill-health. 94% of respondents reported that they ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ support women with problematic substance use. 93% of respondents reported that they ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ support women who experience domestic violence. (Source: Homeless Link and Women’s Resource Centre, ‘Promising practice from the frontline, Research to explore approaches to supporting women who experience homelessness and multiple disadvantage.’ December 2018.)

Socio-economic factors influencing probability of homelessnesS: