Homelessness services are male-dominated spaces as, being the majority user, homelessness services are often created with men in mind. Due to this, there is not currently enough data to paint a clear picture of women’s homelessness. Additionally, women face an increased risk of abuse and sexual exploitation on the streets, making it difficult for them to feel comfortable attending traditionally male-dominated spaces. This results in a vicious cycle, which we aim to break.

Services are largely designed for men with little data on women: we aim to solve this by identifying the barriers that women experiencing homelessness may face to building a life away from the streets. We will establish the best ways of removing these barriers through best practice, training, and the engagement of relevant people to develop a sustainable strategy to address this systemic problem. Through the strategy, we wish to improve and increase the number of women-specific services.