Women’s Rough Sleeping Census

Women’s homelessness is hidden because the system isn’t built for them. 

To survive, women sleeping rough often avoid being seen. They stay on buses, in A&E, in all-night cafés – anywhere they might feel less exposed. But staying out of sight to stay safe comes at a cost: it keeps them invisible to the very services that should be there to help.

That’s why official statistics don’t tell the full story. The true scale of women’s rough sleeping is far greater – and far more urgent – than official numbers suggest.

This is where the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census comes in – designed, planned and led by us in partnership with Solace. Its purpose is to shine a light on the true scale and nature of women’s rough sleeping by using gender-informed data collection – with support from partners, local councils and charities across the country. And what it reveals is stark.

It lays bare a systemic failure. From policies and funding to outreach and data, the structures meant to support people experiencing homelessness are still shaped around men’s experiences. Women are falling through the cracks – because too often, they were never seen in the first place.

It’s time to change that. Every woman deserves safety, dignity, and a place to call home.

2024 Census

The 2024 Census, in partnership with Solace, found that ten times as many women are sleeping rough than are identified through the Government’s annual snapshot. The report, How Do We Sleep at Night? was published alongside Crisis and Change Grow Live.

The census was conducted across 88 local authorities, using more thorough and accurate ways to count women sleeping rough – methods that better reflect the true scale and realities of how women experience rough sleeping across England, such as the near-universal experiences of domestic abuse and VAWG (violence against women and girls).

The findings of the census demonstrate that women’s homelessness is compounded by systemic neglect, with policies, funding, data collection methods and services failing to adequately recognise and respond to women’s experiences because they are designed for men. More here

2023 Census

The 2023 data review, conducted by CGL, estimated there may be up to nine times as many women rough sleeping across England than the Government’s annual Rough Sleeping Snapshot suggests.

The week-long national census of women sleeping rough was conducted in 41 local authorities across England. Outreach teams conducting the census found 815 women, a far higher number than Government counts in many of the areas indicate. Some local authorities found stark discrepancies.

Read the full story here

2022 Pan-London Census

In October 2022, we designed, planned, and coordinated a London-wide women’s rough sleeping census alongside a coalition of leading homelessness and VAWG charities.

The census came on the back of our research into women’s homelessness in Camden, which explicitly noted the need for better data collection to evidence the scale of women’s rough sleeping, and the need for better integration between homelessness and VAWG services and sectors.

“I would roam around and travel on buses. As a female, you can’t just go to the corner of a road and sleep. It’s not safe.“

Our report Making Women Count, written by Praxis Collab, sets out the essential findings and lessons from the first-of-its-kind 2022 census of women sleeping rough in London.

The census found 154 women rough-sleeping in London in a week. This indicates a higher number of women sleeping rough in London than previously believed – and this may still under-represent the actual figure. Counting women sleeping rough is particularly complex as many are not in touch with support services and are more hidden than their male counterparts.

The report emphasised that women’s rough sleeping is often transient, intermittent and hidden. This means that women are often not represented in official statistics and, crucially, are often precluded from accessing support and housing. The effects of this inequality of access are severe: experiences of violence and abuse are “near universal” for women who sleep rough, and the average age of death is just 43 years old, even younger than their male counterparts (45). This means women experiencing homelessness are living just half as long as most women in the UK where the most common age of death for is 89.