This year, the theme of International Women’s Day is ‘accelerate action’; a topic of vital importance when it comes to the lives of women experiencing homelessness.
The government’s latest rough sleeping statistics reveal a shocking 20% increase in rough sleeping in England, with the number of women seen sleeping on the streets keeping pace with this, from 568 in 2023 to 680 in 2024. And this number is likely to be an underestimation, with hidden homelessness particularly common among women.
We know that homelessness is terrible for people’s health and the evidence tells us both that women experience homelessness differently to men, and that across the population women face different health challenges. Therefore, to effectively address homelessness and health for women, we need gender-specific responses.
Data from Homeless Health Needs Audits (HHNAs), which feed into our Unhealthy State of Homelessness report, reveals that despite a high predominance of poor mental and physical ill-health across the board, there are differences in the health challenges faced by women experiencing homelessness compared to men; and in the ways that men and women access health care.
Our data shows that slightly more women than men have a diagnosed mental health condition, at 85% (128) for women and 82% (259) for men. While this is reversed for physical health conditions - at 81% for men vs 78% for women, there is variation within this, with women more likely to have a diagnosed urinary problem, infection, or incontinence (18%) compared to men (8%), and more likely to have an asthma diagnosis (27% of women vs 23% of men).
Despite this high level of need, women are more likely than men to report not having received an assessment or treatment when they had needed it in the last year; and this is particularly the case for mental health services (44% of women vs 34% of men). Though the data does not explain why this is, it does suggest that women face distinct barriers to accessing care when compared with men.
Added to this, The Unhealthy State of Homelessness report revealed the extent of the inequalities faced by women experiencing homelessness in access to life-saving cancer screening services. The HHNA asks all those eligible whether they have had a breast screening in the past three years. Just 37% (17) of women had had a breast screening during this timeframe, compared to 62% of women in the general population. For cervical screening we see a similar picture, with 54% (66) of HHNA respondents having received a screening, compared to 70% across the general population.
It is not right that these inequalities exist, and indeed many can be addressed, with fantastic local services that support better access to healthcare services for women experiencing homelessness existing across the country. One such example is Wildflowers, which uses a person-centred, flexible approach to support women in Peterborough to access life-saving cervical screening and colposcopy.
Being aware of and able to understand these issues is the first step in creating change that will hugely benefit the lives of women experiencing homelessness. The Homeless Health Needs Audit can support you to understand the health and healthcare experiences of women in your local area. By identifying areas of success and challenge it enables the development, design and commissioning of services which support parity of healthcare for all.
To find out more about running an audit in your area, contact Homeless Link's Senior Research Manager, Debra Hertzberg: debra.hertzberg@homelesslink.org.uk.
