Report: Fobbed Off: The barriers preventing women accessing housing and homelessness support, and the women-centred approach needed to overcome them

We are living in a housing emergency which is disproportionately affecting women. 1 in 2 single women are denied the right to a safe home, and 1 in 4 single women with children live in home that harms their or their family’s physical and/or mental health.

In the last 10 years, the number of women in England who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation has increased by 88%. Currently, 75,000 women and their families are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. They make up 60% of homeless adults in temporary accommodation, compared with just 51% of adults in England.

A failure to recognise women’s specific and differing needs means women facing housing issues are often meeting multiple professionals to take action and services are all too frequently failing to resolve women’s housing issues.

This research brings together the findings of a 10-month peer research project, covering Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield, led by women with lived experience of the housing emergency. The research investigated the housing problems women, non-binary people and their families are facing, and their experiences with services to try to resolve these issues. We explored interviewees’ experiences of best practice with services and, crucially, the barriers that prevented them accessing the support they needed.

The insights of the peer researchers and 35 interviewees, Shelter’s frontline services staff, and local organisations working with communities in Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield, are backed up with wider insights from relevant sources and further surveys and analysis conducted by Shelter revealing the way a broken housing system is disproportionately
affecting women.

The report concludes by outlining a series of priorities for delivering effective women-centred services and a co-designed women-centred service model which will empower women to achieve their ultimate goal of living in safe, suitable homes where they can build a stable life for them and their families.