Ten times more women sleeping rough than Government counts 

More than ten times as many women are sleeping rough than are identified through Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) reports, according to new research from charities Solace and Single Homeless Project.

The charities, alongside Crisis and Change Grow Live, have published their third annual Women’s Rough Sleeping Census report, How Do We Sleep at Night? Conducted across 88 local authorities, it uses 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.

The report recommends that the Government develops a specific chapter on women’s homelessness, as part of their cross-government homelessness strategy, that addresses five points:

Five asks of Government:

1. Recognise women’s homelessness: Adopt a gender-informed definition of rough sleeping that reflects women’s hidden, transient and intermittent experiences.
2. Improve the data: Give councils the tools, resources, and guidance they need to collect accurate, inclusive data on women sleeping rough.
3. Fund safe services: Ensure homelessness services are accessible, safe, and equitable for women – backed by the funding to make this possible.
4. Join the dots: Develop joined-up strategies across departments, including the upcoming VAWG Strategy, so women can get housing and support wherever they turn.
5. Act earlier: Invest in prevention and early intervention so women can avoid homelessness or get help the moment they need it. 

Rebecca Goshawk, Solace Director of Business Development, said: “Women sleeping rough are at risk of violence, sexual assault and robbery at astronomically higher levels than men. This is why women are far less likely to ‘bed down’ for the night, opting instead to ride public transport, sleep during the day or sit in A&E departments to try to stay safe. The census shows that Government data and services don’t know these women exist, and so how can they possibly provide them with the support that they need?” 

Key report findings: 

• The Government is not looking in the right places – Many of the locations where women spend the night are not classified as ‘rough sleeping’ in the Government’s snapshot counts, such as A&E departments, libraries, or public transport. This means over half (54%) of women reported sleeping rough in the types of public spaces that would not have been  included in official data collection and therefore unlikely to receive support from outreach teams. 
• Accommodation services aren’t designed for women’s needs – One third of respondents (37%) reported that they had been in some form of homelessness accommodation before sleeping rough. This shows that current services often fail to meet women’s needs and aren’t enough to prevent them from sleeping rough. 
• Services aren’t joined up – Homelessness services aren’t set up to reach women. 77% weren’t getting support from a housing officer or council housing team, 43% weren’t in touch with a homelessness service, and a third weren’t accessing either. Even when women do engage with other services – like drug and alcohol support – those services are often not equipped to help with homelessness. 

Women who completed the census survey told the volunteers about their experiences:

“I feel vulnerable. You have to rely on people who you can’t trust and don’t feel safe with. I don’t have the money to go into restaurants for shelter and have to put myself at risk and do things I don’t want to so I can get shelter for the night.”

“To keep safe for a woman is more difficult. I have been raped by people while sleeping rough in a bank doorway. I now ensure I am with a male rough sleeper at all times. I believe this is the safest option, but it doesn’t mean I am safe.”

Lucy Campbell, Head of Multiple Disadvantage at Single Homeless Project, said: “We can’t keep failing women. Nine in ten sleeping rough are simply not being seen or counted. That’s not just a statistic, it’s a systemic failure. The government now has a real opportunity to change this. A national approach to women’s homelessness isn’t optional, it’s essential. It would give local authorities the tools they need to stop women falling through the cracks and start delivering the solutions women need and deserve.” 

The table below shows a breakdown of the number of women counted as rough sleeping in the Government count compared to the gender-informed census survey and Local Insights meetings: 

Jasmine Basran, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Crisis, said: “Women are falling through the cracks of our homelessness system. From the way we provide services to the way we determine how many people are actually sleeping on the streets, the current approach lacks nuance and doesn’t fully consider that many women experience homelessness differently to men. Women are being excluded from support and exposed to harm when services fail to recognise that they’re sleeping rough. We also hear from women how they don’t feel safe with some of the support on offer as it doesn’t account for specific experiences, such as fleeing domestic abuse. As the government prepares their strategy to end homelessness, it’s crucial they include a specific chapter on this issue to ensure women get the specialist support they need to leave homelessness behind.”   

Paula Barker MP Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness said: “I fully support the recommendations in this report. The upcoming cross-government strategy to end homelessness must address the failure of the rough sleeping snapshot to correctly account for the number of women sleeping rough. It must also address the failures in access to support and provision for women. We can and must put an end to homelessness, but we can’t do that without correcting the outdated methods that have long been proven not to work.” 

Lesley Howard, Head of Homelessness at Change Grow Live, said: “We have our clearest picture yet of the unique challenges women face when experiencing homelessness. With more data than ever before, and direct input from women across England, this is a powerful opportunity to reshape our systems for the better. We need greater investment in homelessness prevention, including access to drug and alcohol services, to ensure women at risk of or experiencing homelessness can get the help they need as early as possible. It is clear we must listen to their experiences to build support services that truly work for women.” 

Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said: “It’s unacceptable that thousands of women who have fled an abusive situation are going unaccounted for on our streets without adequate support.  

“Domestic abuse is, by its nature, a housing issue. But with next to no social housing available and refuges struggling to stay afloat, more and more victims are being left with no option but to spend the night on public transport or hide out of sight to try and keep safe. 

“We cannot end homelessness and protect survivors of domestic abuse if we do not know who needs help. It’s critical the government’s upcoming homelessness strategy puts in place a clear plan to improve the visibility of women within homelessness data so we can understand the true scale of the problem. 

“But ultimately to ensure victims can leave homelessness behind, the government must back solutions that work like Housing First, so that survivors can have a safe place to live and the support they need to recover from abuse.”  

How the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census is calculated:

The Women’s Rough Sleeping Census uses a two-part method to get the most accurate picture possible.

• First, for one week, local councils and charities visit places where women are known to sleep rough, speak to them directly about their experiences and register them in the census. This year, more than 1,000 women in 88 local authorities took part.
• The second part, coined ‘Local Insights meetings’, bring together records from a wide range of local services, including homelessness services, healthcare providers, and domestic abuse services. This helps make sure women who weren’t reached during the survey week are still counted for accuracy and supported. Duplicates are removed, so if the same woman appears in more than one record, she’s only counted once. 1,777 recorded women were individually identified in the multi-agency Local Insights meetings across 37 local authorities.

The 2024 Women’s Rough Sleeping Census was led by Solace Women’s Aid and Single Homeless Project, with support from London Councils and the Greater London Authority to deliver the London Census. The census 2024 report was authored by Change Grow Live and Crisis. The census has taken place in 88 local authorities across the country, led locally by a range of local government and voluntary sector organisations.

To read the complete Women’s Rough Sleeping Census report, click here.