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A week-long charity census by the Single Homeless Project and Solace Women’s Aid discovered more than 1,000 females had been on the streets – far higher than the government’s own count
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The hidden homeless: Mirror investigates England’s rough sleeping scandal
The ‘hidden homeless’ scandal is today laid bare as we reveal nearly twice as many women sleep rough than official figures show.
A week-long charity census discovered more than 1,000 females had been on the streets – far higher than the government’s own count. The sobering findings bring the scale of the crisis into sharp focus – with a charity warning women often stay hidden to keep safe.
With homelessness on the rise, the Mirror today starts a three-part series investigating the issue – and what society is doing to tackle it. Shockingly, the average age of death for homeless women in England and Wales is just 43, the most recently recorded estimates show – two years younger than men.
Females bedding down on the street are said to more likely have been victims of higher rates of domestic abuse, trauma, mental-ill health and self-harm compared to males. And it also warned there is a higher chance that women homeless because of abuse will flee accommodation that does not feel safe – such as mixed hostels, where physical and sexual violence occurs.
Eleanor Greenhalgh, Women’s Rough Sleeping Policy Manager at Solace Women’s Aid, told the Mirror: “A woman who had experienced rough sleeping said, ‘we’re not hidden, you’re just not looking in the right places’. And I think that’s really key. Women are physically less visible on the street… There are many ways that we should be able to reach women, that we should be seeing women rough sleeping, we should be believing them when they tell us that’s what they’re experiencing.”
The census led by the Single Homeless Project (SHP) and Solace Women’s Aid was carried out at the end of September across 65 local authorities or London boroughs in England, with nearly 1,300 responses received. It found 1,014 women had experienced rough sleeping in the three months to the date of the census.
The number marks a 24% increase from when the survey was conducted last year across 41 local authorities, which found 815 women had slept rough. The overall women rough sleeping figure is likely to be even higher given there are over 300 local authorities nationwide.
In the government’s most recently published snapshot, it found only an estimated 568 women sleeping rough on a single night in autumn last year. The charities’ census used a broader definition of homelessness: “Having nowhere safe to stay at all: for example, sleeping outside on the ground or in a tent, sitting/sleeping in places which are open late or 24/7 (such as fast-food restaurants and hospitals ), walking all night, sex working at night but not having anywhere to sleep during the day, using drugs in other people’s accommodation at night but not having anywhere to sleep during the day, etc.
“Women may not do this every night, and rough sleeping may be interspersed with other forms of hidden homelessness such as staying in accommodation belonging to unsafe/unknown people/perpetrators, staying in ‘cuckooed’ flats, or staying with friends/family/associates on an insecure and transitory basis.”
The government’s most recently-published rough sleeping snapshot survey for England found an estimated 3,898 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2023 – a 27% year-on-year jump. But rough sleeping is not the only form of homelessness. Other forms include those in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs.
Only this month, the charity Shelter warned at least 354,000 people – enough to fill Wembley Stadium nearly four times – are likely to be homeless this Christmas. The estimated figure included 161,495 children. And the overall number is a 14% increase from last year.
A report earlier this year by health charity Change Grow Live, along with SHP and Solace, painted a desperate picture of female homelessness. It said: “The consequences of women’s rough sleeping so often remaining undetected and unresolved are severe. As with broader homelessness, women who sleep rough are likely to have experienced higher rates of trauma, domestic abuse, mental ill-health and self-harm than their male counterparts, highlighting the need for an integrated, cross-sector response at a local authority level, and a cross-departmental commitment to addressing women’s rough sleeping from central government.
“Women who are homeless due to domestic or other abuse continue to be at risk of harm on the street or in public places; they are more likely to flee homelessness accommodation that doesn’t feel safe (i.e. mixed hostels where they are known to experience high levels of physical and sexual violence).”
Elsewhere, the report explained: “Current definitions of rough sleeping often fail to accurately identify women, as women tend to stay hidden during the day and move frequently to avoid vulnerability at night. Women are less likely to “bed down” compared to men, often only if they have a male companion. They often transition rapidly between rough sleeping and sofa surfing and this more transient lifestyle makes it difficult for outreach teams to locate or verify women who are sleeping rough. Women are also more likely to spend nights in inconspicuous indoor locations (like A&E departments) or on public transport – making daytime outreach more effective in finding them.”
The government said: “We inherited devastating levels of homelessness and rough sleeping and know women can be affected differently, including those hiding from harm. This is why we support the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census and encourage councils to review its guidance so data on female rough sleeping is as accurate as possible. More widely, we have taken urgent action by committing £1 billion in funding to support homelessness services as well as taking steps to address the wider housing crisis so that we can get back on track to ending homelessness for good.”
