A coalition of leading homelessness, housing, violence against women and girls, health organisations, and local authorities has delivered an open letter to Angela Rayner and ministers with three calls to action that would reform the way that women’s rough sleeping and homelessness are recognised and responded to. The letter is supported by 47 organisations, networks, and local authorities across England.

The calls to action are based on years of research by the Single Homeless Project and Solace, which used a gender-informed approach to counting women sleeping rough. The latest census results from 815 women across 41 local authorities tell us how, when, and where women sleep rough and what they experience and need.

The body of evidence estimates there may be up to nine times as many women rough sleeping across England than the Government’s annual Rough Sleeping Snapshot suggests. It also reveals that women’s needs are not being met, largely due to current Government policies and practices, which are based predominantly on the experiences of men.

In response, the coalition calls for the Government to change the way that women’s rough sleeping is recognised, counted and responded to:

1. Make the Government’s response to homelessness and rough sleeping gender-informed: Current rough sleeping definitions, strategies and practices are based predominantly on the experiences of men. The Government should use the findings from the census to ensure its policy, strategies and guidance are gender-informed and provide an equitable response to all those who are rough sleeping, including supporting change to verification practices. All government data collected on homelessness and rough sleeping should be subject to an equalities impact assessment to ensure that methods are inclusive of women and marginalised groups.
2. Resource and lead the women’s rough sleeping census: The Government should lead the women’s rough sleeping census, supporting every local authority in England to conduct it annually. This can be achieved through the resourcing of a dedicated lead to oversee the rollout of the census, and the support and assistance of the Government’s rough sleeping advisors.
3. Ensure women have access to safe and suitable accommodation, including through national funding pots and guidance for local commissioners on women’s pathways: The Government should use the findings and experience of the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census and specialist services to develop cross-sector pathways of support that are effective and safe for women, including specialist and women’s services, and services for migrant women. This should be accompanied by guidance on improving the safety of temporary accommodation for women, the expansion of priority need for survivors of wider forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), and the lifting of the no recourse to public funds condition for migrant women experiencing VAWG.

The third Women’s Rough Sleeping Census (2024) will take place in over 50 local authorities across England this September.

This census is gender-informed in its design and creates a more comprehensive and accurate understanding than the existing Government approach.

The Census is a gender-informed initiative driven by Solace Women’s Aid, Single Homeless Project, Change Grow Live, London Councils and the Greater London Authority.  The census has been supported by local authorities and organisations including; London boroughs, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Herefordshire Council, Coventry City Council, Basis Yorkshire, Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council, Gloucestershire Housing Partnership, CGL Cambridge and Nottinghamshire County Council.

You can read the full letter here. You can also read the 2023 census report in full here.

Read the full letter here

The 47 organisations that supported the letter include:

Advance Charity
Agenda Alliance
Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid
Bolton Council
Change Grow Live
Changing Lives
Cllr Patricia Callaghan, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities and Deputy Leader, Camden
Cllr Richard Roberts, Leader of Hertfordshire County Council
Cripplegate Foundation
Crisis
DAHA
DAHA National Group
Dr Binta Sultan, Consultant Physician in Inclusion Health
Glass Door Homeless Charity
Groundswell
Hibiscus
Islington Council
It Takes a City (Cambridge)
Kairos Women Working Together
Karma Nirvana
Leeds City Council
Look Ahead
Mama Suze
Marylebone Project
New Horizons Youth Centre
One25
Oxfordshire Homeless Movement
Pathway
Providence Row
Resolve
Social Interest Group
Southall Black Sisters
Spear
Spring Housing Association
St Martin’s Charity
St Mungo’s
Standing Together
Street Storage
The Connection at St Martin’s
The Nelson Trust
West Northamptonshire Council
Women and Girls Network
Women for Refugee Women
Your Place

This article was originally published on the SHP and Solace website.