“We cannot ever hope to end rough sleeping if we are not even able to assess the scope of the problem to begin with."
A new study shows that the number of women sleeping rough in England is likely more than ten times higher than official government figures suggest, prompting urgent calls for improved data collection and increased investment in gender-sensitive support services.
The Women’s Rough Sleeping Census 2024, conducted by Solace Women’s Aid and the Single Homeless Project, identified 1,014 women who had slept rough in the previous three months across 88 local authority areas during a survey carried out in September. The findings contrast with the government’s official rough sleeping snapshot, which relies on single-night counts and estimates, often failing to capture the hidden and less visible nature of women’s homelessness.
In London, the number of women recorded by the census was nearly double the official snapshot. Outside the capital, it was more than four times higher. Further analysis through multi-agency local insight meetings in 37 areas uncovered a total of 1,777 women experiencing rough sleeping, over ten times the number reported by the government’s official count.
Labour MP Paula Barker, who represents Liverpool Wavertree, described the findings as “stark.”
“We cannot ever hope to end rough sleeping if we are not even able to assess the scope of the problem to begin with. The women’s rough sleeping census 2024 reveals a bleak reality: more than 10 times as many women are sleeping rough in England than government data suggests.
“This huge discrepancy underscores just how inadequate the government’s current rough sleeping snapshot is,” Barker said.
The census also revealed that more than half of the locations where women reported sleeping rough were public spaces, yet only a third of these are currently classified as ‘rough sleeping’ sites in traditional counts. As a result, around 61 percent of women sleeping rough in public areas are excluded from official data and, consequently, from the outreach support tied to that data.
Additionally, 37 percent of women reported having stayed in homelessness accommodation prior to rough sleeping, highlighting how such services are often unsuitable or unsuitable for women, particularly those fleeing domestic abuse or dealing with trauma.
Organisers of the census, Single Homeless Project, Solace Women’s Aid, Crisis and Change Grow Live, said that their gender-informed outreach methods has been “highly successful” in identifying women who are rough sleeping. They are now urging the government to include a dedicated chapter on women’s homelessness in its forthcoming cross-government homelessness strategy, which is expected later this year.
The group is also calling for local councils to be given access to better data on women’s homelessness and for increased investment in safe, gender-specific services. They stressed the importance of coordinated strategies across departments, particularly in light of the upcoming government strategy on violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Rebecca Goshawk, director of business development Solace Women’s Aid, said: “These statistics show, once again, that data collection methods that are being used across the country just aren’t appropriate for women experiencing rough sleeping.
“We’ve seen again that over 90% of authorities that took part saw more women through the census than they did through the rough sleeping snapshot. It is not set up to recognise the experience of women and how they sleep rough,” she told the Big Issue.
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