Coalition of over 50 charities call for national rollout as record number of councils prepare to take part from 21–27 September
A major national effort to identify women who are being missed by traditional rough sleeping counts is to be critical to the Government’s drive to get everyone sleeping rough off the streets by Christmas, charities have said.
From 21–27 September, over 115 local authorities and hundreds of homelessness, women’s, health and community organisations across England will take part in the fifth Women’s Rough Sleeping Census. The Census uses a different approach to find women whose experiences of rough sleeping can make them less visible to traditional methods.
Women experiencing rough sleeping often stay out of sight because of the risk of violence and abuse – sleeping on buses, in A&E waiting rooms or other public spaces, walking through the night, or staying with strangers rather than bedding down visibly on the street. Last year, 65% of women surveyed through the Census had slept in places not included in official rough sleeping counts or stayed awake and walked through the night to avoid harm.
This matters as the Government works towards its ambition to offer everyone sleeping rough a route off the streets by Christmas.
A new, national campaign Make Women Count, led by Single Homeless Project and Solace, is calling for the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census to be funded and rolled out across England from 2027. Together with Crisis and Change Grow Live and a coalition of over 50 charities, who support the Census, they say that Government cannot reach everyone if the systems used to find people continue to miss women.
This year will see the biggest Census since it was first piloted in London in 2022, to better understand the nature, scale and complexity of women’s rough sleeping. The growth has been driven by a collaborative effort involving councils and hundreds of local organisations, which currently receive no dedicated funding to take part.
Evidence gathered through the Census has shown that women are not only being missed from official figures, but can also be missed by, or fall out of, the services intended to support them.
Lucy Campbell, Assistant Director of System Change at Single Homeless Project, said:
“The Government has made a bold commitment to get everyone sleeping rough off the streets. But you can’t reach everyone if you don’t know who everyone is – and finding women is only the first step.
“For five years, this Census has shown us both where women are being missed and what needs to change to help them away from rough sleeping. Whether a woman is seen and offered the right support shouldn’t depend on her rough sleeping visibly on the streets at night.
“If Everyone In is really going to mean everyone, we need all local authorities to understand the true scale of women’s rough sleeping, and to ensure that the accommodation then offered to women is accessible, safe and sustainable. It’s time to make women count.”
Rebecca Goshawk, Director of Business Development at Solace, said:
“Violence against women and girls and rough sleeping are inextricably linked. The Government’s aims around rough sleeping will only be achieved with sufficient support for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
“The Census is an incredible effort by a vast and diverse group of areas, organisations and services, but for real change to happen, national Government must join forces with us. Failing to do so risks so many women being left out of the Prime Minister’s ambitions.”
In the most recent Census, nearly 3,000 women were identified through multi-agency Local Insights meetings across 42 local authorities – ten times the number identified through the Government’s annual rough sleeping snapshot in the same areas. In six local authorities, 162 women were identified where the official snapshot had recorded no women sleeping rough at all.
The report findings also showed that 45% of women surveyed had been in some form of homelessness accommodation immediately before sleeping rough, while 38% were not receiving support from either a housing officer or homelessness organisation.
Victoria, who lives in London and took part in the census said: “As a woman, I was often afraid to sleep, so I wouldn’t sleep at all, especially at night.
“The minute men realised I was vulnerable and homeless, they would begin to offer me money to do things with them. I felt unsupported, alone and suicidal.
“The Women’s Rough Sleeping Census is crucial because there are a lot of women rough sleeping whose lives and safety are constantly at risk.”
Francesca Albanese, Director of Policy and Social Change at Crisis, said:
“If we are to truly end rough sleeping and meet the government’s ambitious commitment, we need to deliver an equitable rough sleeping response that addresses gaps in support. To do this we need to both recognise and rectify the undercounting of women who have nowhere safe to sleep and use the valuable insights we get from the census to help shape policies and service provision.
“Rolling the census out across every local authority in England will make a big difference. It will ensure women’s experiences of homelessness are visible and give us the robust data we need to respond to the true scale of the problem.”
Camden Council Cabinet Member for Better Homes and Homelessness Prevention, Cllr Anna Wright, said:
“In Camden, we recognise that women experiencing homelessness are too often unseen, despite facing some of the most complex challenges. Participating in the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census since it began has helped us to better understand those challenges, to identify more women who are experiencing homelessness and to tailor the support we provide to them.
“It has also helped us to strengthen the specialist support we are providing for women through our Housing First service and dedicated women’s outreach, while also increasing the spaces we have available for women only in our accommodation services. As a result, more women in Camden are able to access the tailored, trauma-informed support they need to move away from homelessness and into safe and stable accommodation.”
It is already helping to change local responses. Findings from participating areas have informed the commissioning of new women’s accommodation, the introduction of gender-informed outreach and changes to local strategies to better identify and support women experiencing rough sleeping.
Backed by over fifty charities, the campaign, Make Women Count, is calling on Government to build on the progress already made and ensure its plans to end rough sleeping work for women. This includes updating the definition of rough sleeping to better reflect women’s experiences; safe, gender-informed homelessness services; and for the Government’s wider homelessness reforms to recognise the links between women’s homelessness, violence and abuse.
Follow us on social media