Full Breakdown
Hidden Women: 2025 Census Uncovers Scale of Female Rough Sleeping in England
6/11/2026, 2:48:33 AM
Core Findings of the 2025 Women’s Rough Sleeping Census
Surveyors from Solace Women’s Aid and the Single Homeless Project recorded 1,406 women who had slept rough in the three months to September 2025, covering 33 London councils and 68 other authorities (about one-third of England). Two-thirds would have been missed by the government’s standard count; 65 % slept in places excluded from official tallies, 45 % had recently been in homelessness accommodation, and 38 % lacked support from a housing officer.
Why Women Remain Invisible
Women often avoid visible sleeping sites to reduce exposure to violence, exploitation and sexual assault. Domestic abuse, mental ill health and poverty drive this concealment, leading many to sleep on buses, in A&E waiting rooms or remain awake through the night.
Voices from the Streets
Victoria, a 31-year-old who spent three years near King’s Cross, reported sleeping on night buses and in A&E to stay safe. Outreach workers Eabha and Elise said women are often found tucked away in parks, bushes or on night trains.
Government Response
Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern said the government is working with councils to support women into suitable accommodation, investing £3.6 billion to end homelessness, and pledging to halve long-term rough sleeping by 2029.
Critique from Charities and MPs
MP Paula Barker warned that women are absent from official data, hindering any end-to-homelessness plan. Crisis head Jasmine Basran called the census findings a matter of urgency, while Rebecca Goshawk of Solace Women’s Aid stressed domestic abuse as the primary cause of women’s rough sleeping.
Conflicting Data and Gaps
The government’s autumn-2025 snapshot recorded 733 women rough sleeping on a single night, whereas the charities’ census identified 1,406 women in three months—a tenfold difference reflecting divergent counting methods and limited geographic coverage.
Verbatim Quotes
- “The government has pledged to reduce long term rough sleeping by half, but this cannot be achieved without an accurate starting point. The women’s census shows there is a better way to count, understand and respond to women’s rough sleeping. The government now has an opportunity to make that the national standard.” — Lucy Campbell, Single Homeless Project
- “Women are riding buses through the night, sitting in A&E waiting rooms and walking the streets until morning to stay safe, but because they are not bedding down visibly, too many are invisible in data,” — Lucy Campbell, Single Homeless Project
- “I feel it’s important from a cost point of view, but primarily morally, that if somebody’s a victim of domestic abuse, that they ought not to be made homeless by that,” — Alison McGovern, Homelessness Minister
- “When people used to see me, they didn't believe I was homeless,” — Victoria, former rough sleeper
Upcoming Steps
Charities are urging ministers to adopt a gender-informed definition of rough sleeping and to ring-fence funding for women-specific services. The next parliamentary session will scrutinise the census methodology, and local authorities are being asked to roll out the new counting approach nationwide.
