The Women’s Homelessness Alliance North East discuss their participation in the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census and the importance of this work.
This time last year, no local authority in the North East had participated in the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census (WRSC).
As organisations supporting women facing homelessness, we were deeply concerned that the lack of accurate regional data meant women’s experiences were going unseen, their needs unmet, and the true scale of homelessness among women left hidden.
Services for women experiencing homelessness have historically been under-invested in, and because women’s homelessness is missing from statistics, it is not adequately represented in the commissioning of gender-specific services needed to address the issue. Every organisation we consulted shared this concern; you can’t solve a problem you can’t see.
Fortunately, a lot of progress has been made in a year. The Women’s Homelessness Alliance was launched in March 2025 with a primary aim to address the absence of data within the region. The Alliance seeks to ensure women’s experiences are made visible, that their needs are understood, and that homelessness services are shaped using the real experiences of women.
This year, one of our aims is for all seven local authorities within the North East Combined Authority area to participate in the WRSC in the autumn of 2026.
Zero to seven is a considerable leap. Yet, by harnessing the experience of Shelter and Oasis Community Housing, who had successfully onboarded three local authorities to participate in the 2025 Census, we were able to demonstrate a straightforward, replicable process, encouraging more local authorities to engage.
The experiences of Shelter, partnering with Newcastle and South Tyneside
“In 2025, Shelter led the coordination of the first Women’s Rough Sleeping Census in the North East, working with Newcastle and South Tyneside on delivery. A key factor in securing early participation were our strong, pre‑existing relationships with statutory partners and voluntary sector organisations. This enabled effective communication to ensure all stakeholders understood the purpose and process of the Census.
"We then engaged widely across the sector, holding multiple briefings, meetings and training sessions and shared information through different channels to make sure those involved understood what was happening, what was expected, and how to get involved. During Census Week we coordinated activity and supported partners. We facilitated an insight meeting to discuss the challenges faced by women and the organisations supporting them and created and second data set.
"Political leadership was also essential. A clear example of this was engaging the Director of Housing and the Housing portfolio holder fully, giving officers the confidence to commit their time and resources to the census. Their visible support helped ensure the work was prioritised and embedded at a strategic level, with Newcastle embedding findings in the Homeless and Rough Sleeper Strategy.
"The learning from this work now provides a strong foundation for the planned region‑wide roll‑out in 2026.”
The experiences of Oasis, partnering with Gateshead and South Tyneside
“When the opportunity arose for Oasis Community Housing to be involved in the first ever Women's Rough Sleeping Census in the region, we jumped at the opportunity.
"Building on a well-developed relationship with Shelter, we were able to work alongside them in South Tyneside and lead the census in Gateshead, collaborating closely with both Councils to complete the work needed in a short timeframe.
"Listening directly to women experiencing homelessness through outreach and drop-in engagement is central to Oasis and a key part of the Census, so utilising our existing services and in-house experiences inform our information‑gathering process.
"This year we’ll build on our initial learning by starting the process earlier and applying the lessons from last year. We also recognise the importance of securing buy‑in from key partners, including health professionals, and we’re committed to bringing them into the process.”
Stakeholder engagement activity
As an Alliance, we created touchpoints to convey urgency and highlight the need to record women’s experiences. We invited local politicians to a briefing event and posed a simple question: To better support women experiencing homelessness, how can we make sure that their experiences are made visible in the North East?
The Women’s Rough Sleeping Census has consistently demonstrated that most women are not accessing existing homelessness services, systems which are primarily designed around overt, male, patterns of homelessness. Alongside women with lived experience of homelessness, the 14 organisations of the Women’s Homelessness Alliance steering group worked to express this shared reality: locally, we do not hold this data to understand the scale of our own situation and it is impacting the support women can receive.
Local councillors were invited to table a motion to support the Census, which was drafted through consultation with Represent Women and Single Homeless Project, and North Tyneside have since supported a motion to participate in the WRSC 2026.
Over the year, sustained awareness‑building enabled the sector to explore the Census in depth. The 2025 Census delivery in Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside has created a clear, proven model that is guiding other local authorities to understand the process and join with confidence.
Key learning points
- Timescale for communications
- Many hands make light work - you can have a big impact quickly if you work together
- Key relationships between the LAs and VSCE organisations made onboarding quick and easy
- Political buy-in increases strategic commitment, useful when using census findings to shape Homelessness Strategies
To hear more about the Women’s Homelessness Alliance’s plans to role out the WRSC across the North East, and understand ways to replicate a Census in your region, join us at a webinar on Thursday 19th March at 11am.
