Women make up 65% of all London’s homeless in temporary accommodation, but just 16% of rough sleepers
(Nick Ansell/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)Almost two-thirds of homeless Londoners living in temporary accommodation are women, according to new figures from London Councils.
Analysis from the cross-party group, which represents all 32 London boroughs and the City of London, found that there were almost twice as many women impacted by “hidden homelessness” in the capital as there were men.
In total, 42,000 temporary occupants in London are adult women, while 21,700 are adult men. This means that women account for 65 per cent of all temporary accommodation occupants in the capital.
Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ executive member for housing said that the specific challenges facing homeless women are “too often overlooked”.
He said: “We’re hugely concerned by the number of women becoming homeless and requiring temporary accommodation in the capital.
“London continues to suffer the highest homelessness rates in the country – especially in terms of the hidden homelessness identified through temporary accommodation figures. More must be done to understand the particularly severe impact on female Londoners and to help them avoid homelessness.”
While women make up the majority of homeless Londoners in temporary accommodation, they made up only 16 per cent of rough sleepers observed in London in 2020/21.
Polly Neate, chief executive of homeless and housing charity Shelter, said this is because parents with children have legal protections which mean councils must provide accommodation, though she said that “living in an emergency hostel is far from having a safe home”.
Around 39 per cent of homeless households living in temporary accommodation in London are headed by single mothers, according to the London Councils analysis.
Unaffordable housing costs is one of the key factors that can lead to someone being placed into temporary accommodation, and Ms Neate said that women are “bearing the brunt of our escalating housing emergency”.
Shelter’s research has found that women are 36 per cent more likely to be behind on housing costs than men.
Ms Neate said: “Now the living cost crisis on top of cuts to housing benefit and sexist policies like the benefit cap, mean it’s only going to get harder for many women who are barely hanging on to their homes. Every day our emergency helpline picks up calls from mothers who don’t know how they are going put food on the table or pay their rent at the end of the month. While we know other women feel they have no choice but to stay with an abuser in a bid to keep a roof over their heads.”
She has called on the Government to reverse “damaging” welfare cuts, but said that the only way to eradicate homelessness for good is “by building good quality social homes with rents tied to local wages that people can actually afford”.
Sian Berry, who chairs the London Assembly’s housing committee, said it was of “striking concern” to see that there are so many women in temporary accommodation in London.
She said: “We know homelessness can affect women more seriously and how they can find themselves in vulnerable situations, such as fleeing domestic abuse, or having to care for children single-handedly, and more must be done to help.”
Ms Berry has called on the Mayor of London to take the lead on a “joined-up strategy” across local services “so that women do not feel they have been abandoned”.
While the Mayor of London does not have responsibility over providing temporary accommodation, City Hall supports two pan-London initiatives that work to improve the quality of temporary accommodation and reduce the number of people who are placed outside of their home borough.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “Entrenched inequalities mean that women are more likely than men to experience domestic abuse and poverty. As a result, they are more likely to struggle to afford housing that meets their needs.
“The mayor has made it a personal priority to tackle rough sleeping and ensure London is safe for women. While rough sleeping more than doubled under the previous mayor, it has halved in the last three years under Sadiq’s leadership and work started on more new council homes in London last year than at any point since the 1970s.
“Now, it is critical that the work pioneered by City Hall both before and during the pandemic does not go to waste, but this requires sustainable and substantial resource from the Government as well as policy changes to tackle the root causes.”
