organisations including Solace Women’ s Aid for a pilot cross- London census in 2022, with the scope broadening to include local authorities outside London from the following year.
The results proved that underestimates of women’ s rough sleeping were a national
‘ Rough sleeping is very scary as a woman alone. If finding a group to sleep rough as a woman, you have to offer something for safety – money, drugs or sex’.
CENSUS RESPONDENT
issue, Campbell states.‘ Areas from all over the country have used the methodology to uncover some startling disparities between traditional snapshot count methods and the true scale of women’ s rough sleeping,’ she says.‘ Researchers at Change Grow Live and Crisis then came on board in 2023, analysing the data and writing the national reports.’
The fact that the census is carried out by so many different bodies across the country –‘ homelessness organisations and local authorities of course, but also the substance use sector, the health sector, the violence against women and girls( VAWG) sector, the migrant support sector’ – means that the data is much more accurate than the government’ s, she stresses.‘ The census gets the right people to look for women in the right places. It’ s a model that could, and should, be adopted nationally.’
So were they surprised by the findings – the sheer extent to which the official figures had been underestimated?‘ Sadly, it was what we expected, but the scale is still shocking,’ she says.‘ The government snapshot counted just 680 women across the whole of England – more than 300 local authorities – but by using a different approach that understands how women experience rough sleeping, the census identified over 1,700 women through Local Insights meetings and more than 1,000 through direct surveys.’ And that’ s just from the 88 local authorities that participated, she points out.
‘ This isn’ t a new problem,’ she states.‘ For years, women have told us their homelessness was invisible. Now we have the evidence. It’ s not just a gap in the numbers, it’ s a systemic failure. When women aren’ t counted, they aren’ t seen. And if they’ re not seen, they can’ t be supported and services aren’ t designed for them.’
So why are official data collection methods so blinkered – why do they overlook so many places where women might be spending the night?‘ The system was built around men’ s experiences,’ she says.‘ The government definition of rough sleeping and subsequent counts focus on visible, mostly streetbased locations, and the need for outreach workers to actually see someone“ bedded down” or about to bed down. But women are far less likely to bed down in those places, because they face astronomically higher risks of rape, harassment and assault. Instead, they choose hidden and transient methods of rough
Women choose hidden and transient methods of rough sleeping to try to keep safe – they ride buses, sit in A & E, sleep in libraries, or just walk the streets all night, too scared to sleep at all. The 2024 census found 54 per cent of women sleep rough in public spaces that aren’ t even recognised in official counts. Janine Wiedel / Alamy.
sleeping to try to keep safe – they ride buses, sit in A & E, sleep in libraries, or just walk the streets all night, too scared to sleep at all. The 2024 census found 54 per cent of women sleep rough in public spaces that aren’ t even recognised in official counts.’
DEVASTATING EFFECTS The knock-on effects are devastating, she says.‘ If women aren’ t sleeping rough according to the government definition, they often aren’ t on outreach teams’ radar. And requiring them to be“ verified” on the street before accessing services forces them into dangerous situations just to qualify for help. In effect, the system is excluding women because of the ways they keep themselves safe.’
The testimonies of the women participating in the census show that domestic abuse continues to be the leading cause of women’ s homelessness, with the associated social isolation and distrust meaning they’ re even less likely to try to access support. Rough sleeping, of course, then places them at great risk of‘ further exploitation, abuse and victimisation’.
So with sexual and genderbased violence both a cause and consequence of women’ s rough sleeping, how has something so serious been overlooked for so long?‘ Because homelessness strategies and policies have been written as if homelessness is the same for everyone, when in reality domestic abuse and gender-based violence are near universal experiences for women who experience homelessness,’ says Campbell.‘ Women’ s homelessness is driven by domestic abuse – in fact, it’ s the leading cause.’ Women who answered last year’ s census survey then described‘ being raped in doorways, forced into unsafe“ survival sex,” or staying with strangers because they had no safer option’, she states.
Successive governments have failed to join the dots, she continues, with the last rough sleeping strategy running to
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