Research and analysis

Rough Sleeping Questionnaire 2025: Expanded Findings on Women

Published 27 November 2025

Applies to England

1. Executive Summary

The Rough Sleeping Questionnaire (RSQ) is one the largest surveys of people who sleep rough ever attempted in the UK. People who participated in the questionnaire provided details of their homelessness experience, support needs and vulnerabilities, and their use of public services. This survey was first run in 2019 to provide detailed information of rough sleeping experiences to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). It was repeated in 2025 to continue MHCLG’s mission to improve services for people who sleep rough, and those at risk of sleeping rough, with the help of the latest data.

Addressing gender disparities in rough sleeping experiences, in particular women who have been victims of domestic abuse and violence, is a key priority for the department. To improve MHCLG’s understanding in this area, analysis of the questionnaire responses was undertaken, with a particular focus on the trends affecting women.

The findings of the analysis are provided in this report, based on answers from 960 of the respondents who had slept rough within the last year. Of these, 151 identified as women and 809 as men. Questionnaires were completed across 32 local authorities in England between January to April 2025.

Participation in the RSQ was voluntary and all answers are self-reported (see Section 2.1). Therefore, the sample may not be statistically representative of the rough sleeping population. However, the demographic profile of the participants was comparable to those reported in recent rough sleeping management information publications (up to April to June 2025).

Key summary points from the analysis are provided below. Comparisons between the experiences of women to men are further detailed in results in Section 3.

1.1 Demographics

• The women who completed the survey were comparable to the men in terms of age-profile. They had an average age of 41.4 years, slightly younger than the average of 42.9 years for men
• 38% of women respondents reported having children under 18, slightly higher than men (31%).

1.2 Sleeping patterns and locations

• Most women who participated in the RSQ were rough sleeping recently. 73% of women and men had slept rough within the last 3 months, 58% of whom had done so for more than 30 nights.
• Slightly more men (40%) had slept rough had slept rough within a week of completing the survey than women (32%), likely because the questionnaire took place in service centres
• Sleeping locations in the past month were also similar overall for both women and men. The most common types were rough sleeping (46% of all respondents), hostels (17%) and supported housing (11%).
• Social rented housing was a more common type of accommodation prior to rough sleeping for women (17%) than men (9%), suggesting it may play a more prominent role in the rough sleeping journeys for women.

1.3 Reasons for rough sleeping

• Women cited the following reasons for leaving their last accommodation more often than men: neighbourhood safety concerns (17% of women), violence in the household (12%), and eviction due to their behaviour (24%).

• Neighbourhood safety concerns were also found to be a statistically significant reason that affected a greater proportion of women than men.

• After leaving their previous accommodation, women and men both reported similar barriers to finding housing overall. Slightly more women (11%) cited lack of time to seek help than men (7% of men).

1.4 Service engagement

• On average, women approached a similar number of services (4.5) to men (4.0) for help regarding homelessness or housing problems.
• They more often approached housing officers (64%), food banks (54%), and social workers (28%).
• Despite this, 23% of women reported they had not approached their local authority in over a year or ever, and 34% had never seen a housing officer. While these figures are substantial, men appeared to have even more limited contact, with 35% not approaching their local authority and 42% never having seen a housing officer.

1.5 Multiple disadvantage and victimisation

• Multiple disadvantage was identified in considerably more women (84%) than men (65%). Co-occurrences of other support needs (including adverse school experiences and physical health issues) were also more prevalent among women.

• Women were found to have worse health than men across a variety of health categories. Around nine in ten (91%) of women said they had some form of mental health need, with a notable gender disparity for post-traumatic stress disorder (39% of women, 23% of men).
• Respondents reported a high proportion of victim experiences. Three quarters (76%) of women had been victims of crime in the past 6 months, and 69% had experienced domestic abuse since age 16. These were far higher than rates for men (of whom 60% were crime victims and 31% experienced domestic abuse), and were found to be statistically significant differences.
• Many women did not report domestic abuse incidents to emergency services. This is particularly the case for those who had had experienced abuse more than 12 months ago, with 47% not reporting this to authorities. Only 23% of women who were victims of crime received support services.

Recognising these emerging issues, through data collections such as the RSQ, is an important step to inform rough sleeping services of the gender differences in the experiences of rough sleepers.

2. Background

In 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) conducted research into people’s experiences of rough sleeping, interviewing a total of 1204 people, of whom 966 had slept rough in the 12 months before being surveyed (i.e. since Spring 2024).

Researchers at MHCLG, with input from survey experts, academics, government analysts, people with lived experience of sleeping rough, and frontline homelessness staff, first designed the ‘Rough Sleeping Questionnaire’ (RSQ) in 2018, with survey fieldwork conducted in 2019-20. The topics and questions were designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of respondents’ backgrounds, histories of homelessness, support needs, and public service use. This was then updated in 2024 before this research was conducted.

This report contains findings from 960 respondents who had slept rough within the 12 months prior, and also confirmed their gender identity as either female or male. Whilst this survey may not necessarily represent of people with experience of sleeping rough, the gender profile (see section 3.1) was found to be similar that found in MHCLG’s most recent Rough Sleeping Snapshot in Autumn 2024. Many thanks to all who participated and shared their experiences.

Some of these findings relate to a subset of these respondents, the number of which is indicated by n =  on the figures and tables.

2.1 Questionnaire Fieldwork and Methodology

The fieldwork was conducted in 32 local authorities, across all regions of England, facilitated through the support of local authority rough sleeping leads and local rough sleeping and homelessness services. These areas were selected to obtain various perspectives from a wide range of geographical locations and urban sizes.

Most questionnaires were completed in day centres or hostels. On average, each wave of the fieldwork took place over a two-week window, with researchers in the field throughout. Respondents had the option to complete the RSQ independently or assisted by a researcher. Most respondents completed the questionnaire with at least some input from interviewers.

Participation in the RSQ was voluntary and all answers are self-reported. Therefore, users of the RSQ findings must acknowledge that the survey may not necessarily be a true statistical representation of people sleeping rough in England.

Statistical tests were performed on questions of interest to determine which responses showed significant differences between men and women. Answers that displayed significance are denoted by * or mentioned otherwise. Further details can be found in the technical annex.

The survey included several free-text questions to give participants the opportunity to share their experiences in their own words. Thematic analysis was applied to the responses. One analyst read the responses and assigned initial granular codes. These codes where then grouped into initial themes. A sub-sample of the data was coded by a second analyst and this coding compared to the first coder’s, to quality assure codes. A full report on the themes identified will be published in future. Themes that were of particular relevance to the experiences of women sleeping rough are included in results in section 3 along with illustrative quotes.

2.2 Additional sources of information

In December 2020 MHCLG published findings from the first RSQ survey that ran from 2019 to 2020. There was a similar proportion of women who had slept rough in the previous 12 months to the 2025 survey. Additionally, it found a gender disparity in experiences of domestic abuse (see Section 3.7), which was reported by 67% of the women surveyed. The analysis from the 2025 RSQ described in Section 3 below look at the experiences of women in a greater detail than in the previous report.

Rough sleeping management information is produced by MHCLG every quarter, based on estimates from local authorities. This contains metrics from the rough sleeping data framework, which was designed to better understand how far rough sleeping is prevented wherever possible, and where it does occur, if it is rare, brief, and non-recurring. As of November 2025, counts by gender have been included in these publications.

MHCLG also produces estimates of the number of women who sleep rough in the annual autumn snapshot. These statistics provide a way of estimating the number of people sleeping rough across England on a single night and assessing change over time. The snapshot and RSQ are both limited in determining the true scale of women’s homelessness, as their experiences are known to be more hidden, transient and intermittent, so more difficult to capture.

Additionally, the department has conducted evaluations of interventions designed to support women who have experienced domestic abuse and multiple disadvantage, which contribute to the wider homelessness evidence base. These include the evaluation of the Domestic Abuse Duty and the provision of support within safe accommodation; the evaluation of the Respite Rooms programme; and a rapid evidence review of domestic abuse interventions for women experiencing multiple disadvantage, as part of the Changing Futures evaluation.

Outside of MHCLG’s evidence, independent research includes the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census (WRSC), from the Single Homelessness Project and Solace. This survey targeted those who had slept rough within the previous 3 months via a gender informed outreach.

Some metrics in these sources overlap with information provided by the 2025 RSQ. However, this report does not contain detailed comparisons with the 2025 RSQ and other surveys. This is to avoid potentially misleading comparisons due to the different sampling approaches taken (see Section 2.1) and data reporting methods. The findings in this report form part of a much wider evidence base to understand gender based experiences of rough sleeping. It is intended to compliment other research in this area.

3. Results

A total of 1204 people completed the questionnaire, of which 213 identified as women and 983 identified as men. Table 3.1 below shows that 71% of the women said they had slept rough in the previous 12 months.

Table 3.1: Count of RSQ respondents by gender

Response	Women	Men
Slept rough within the previous 12 months	151	809
Other service users	62	174
Total RSQ respondents	213	983

Only 8 respondents said that they identified another way for their gender identity, and are therefore not used as a comparison group in this analysis.

The results in the sections below are based on the responses from the 960 respondents, composed of 151 women and 809 men, who had slept rough in the past year. They aim to highlight the issues affecting women by looking at the prevalence of selected topics based on their answers to the RSQ, and comparing these to those reported by men.

3.1 Demographics

Key points:

• Women had a similar age profile to men in the survey. They had an average age of 41.4 years, slightly younger than the average of 42.9 years for men

• 38% of women respondents reported having children under 18, slightly higher than men (31%)

The 151 women surveyed accounted for 16% of the total questionnaire respondents who had slept rough within the previous 12 months. Whilst this survey may not necessarily be statistically representative of all people sleeping rough in England, the gender and age profile, shown in Figure 3.1 below, was found to be similar to that found in MHCLG’s most recent Rough Sleeping Snapshot in Autumn 2024.

The average age of all respondents was 42.6 years, with ages ranging from 18 to 76 years. Figure 3.1 shows a similar age profile between women (average age 41.4 years) and men (42.9 years).

Figure 3.1 Age and gender profile of respondents who had slept rough in the previous year (n = 960)

Figure 3.1 is a bar chart showing the number of respondents by age group and gender.

The majority of respondents identified their ethnicity as white (80% overall), and the proportion of ethnic minority groups were found to be similar between women and men (Table 3.2). Non-UK nationals were less represented by women (11%) than men (20%). These areas of underrepresentation limit the understanding of the rough sleeping experiences of women from minority groups in the RSQ analysis.

Table 3.2: Prevalence of ethnicity and nationality types for women and men

Ethnicity	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
White	81%	80%
Black, Black British, or Caribbean	7%	9%
Asian or Asian British (including Chinese)	3%	6%
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups	5%	3%
Other ethnic group	2%	2%
Nationality status
British	89%	80%
EU or EEA	4%	8%
Non EU/EEA	7%	12%

Around one third (32%) of the respondents said they had children under the age of 18 years. There was a slightly higher prevalence of mothers (38% of women) with children under 18 than fathers (31% of men).

3.2 Frequency and history of rough sleeping

Key points:

• Women reported similar patterns to men in terms of rough sleeping prior to the survey. 73% of women and men had slept rough within the last 3 months, 58% of whom had done so for more than 30 nights.
• One third (32%) of women last slept rough in the past week, compared to 40% of men. This is likely to be a result of questionnaire sampling in service centres.

Out of 1204 respondents surveyed, 966 had slept rough in the previous year and nearly three quarters of these had done so in the previous 3 months. The rates were identical for women and men (73%).

The overall proportion who slept rough within a month of the survey were similar between women and men. However, a higher percentage of men (40%) had slept rough within the past week compared to women (32%). This difference may reflect the sampling methodology (see Section 2.1). For example, women new to rough sleeping may not have approached service centres within the first few days. Additionally, some may have opted not to participate in the survey.

Table 3.3: Time since respondents last slept rough

When last slept rough	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Less than 1 week ago	32%	40%
1 week or more ago, but less than 1 month	30%	20%
1 month or more ago, but less than 3 months	11%	11%
3 months or more ago, but less than 6 months	13%	14%
6 months or more ago, but less than 12 months	15%	16%

Respondents who had slept rough at any point in the previous 3 months were asked to estimate the number of nights this happened in that time. Of the women who responded, 58% had slept rough for more than 30 nights, and a near identical observation was made for men (Table 3.4 below).

Table 3.4: How many nights slept rough in past 3 months, provided by respondents who reported sleeping rough in that period (n = 683)

How many nights slept rough in past 3 months	Women (n = 110)	Men (n = 573)
1 night	1%	2%
2 to 5 nights	12%	7%
6 to 10 nights	6%	7%
11 to 20 nights	8%	7%
21 to 30 nights	9%	13%
More than 30 nights	58%	57%
No response	4%	7%

3.3 Sleeping locations

Key points:

• Sleeping locations in the past month were similar for both women and men
• Social rented housing was a more common type for accommodation prior to rough sleeping women (17%) than men (9%).

There were similarities in sleeping locations reported between women and men in the RSQ. Just under half (47% of women, 45% of men) stated they were rough sleeping in the previous month, with hostels and supported housing composing the next most common locations in that time. There was a notable difference from the 2019 RSQ, where hostels were used by 46% of women in the previous month and 59% for the previous night. This is likely a reflection of the different sampling methods between the two surveys.

Participants were asked where they had slept before their latest period of rough sleeping. Responses from women and men were found to be similar for all location types. The exception to this was social rented housing. Although this was reported by 10% of respondents overall, this was driven by men (10%), whereas it was the second most common type for women (17%).

Table 3.5: Types of homelessness experienced, by locations of sleeping

Where slept last night	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Rough sleeping (or sleeping on transport, in a transport hub, tent or car)	30%	36%
Hostel (includes supported arrangements)	19%	19%
Supported housing (excludes hostel or refuge)	15%	11%
Temporarily with friends or family or sofa surfing	9%	8%
Sheltered accommodation	7%	6%
Other temporary accommodation	6%	5%
Emergency accommodation	5%	5%

Table 3.6: Types of homelessness experienced, by locations of sleeping

Where slept last month	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Rough sleeping (or sleeping on transport, in a transport hub, tent or car)	47%	45%
Hostel (includes supported arrangements)	15%	17%
Supported housing (excludes hostel or refuge)	13%	11%
Sheltered accommodation	6%	3%
Emergency accommodation	5%	4%

Table 3.7: Where slept before last rough sleeping period

Where slept before last rough sleeping period	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Temporarily with friends or family (sofa surfing)	23%	19%
Social rented housing	17%	9%
Privately rented housing	15%	16%
Hostel (including support)	13%	10%
Emergency accommodation	7%	3%
Supported housing	5%	6%

3.4 Reasons for rough sleeping

Key points:

• Women cited the following reasons for leaving their last accommodation more often than men: neighbourhood safety concerns (17%), violence in the household (12%), and eviction due to behaviour (24%).

• Neighbourhood safety concerns were also found to be a statistically significant reason that affected a greater proportion of women than men.

• After leaving their previous accommodation, women and men both reported similar barriers to finding housing, although women more frequently cited lack of time to seek help (11%).

A subset of respondents, those who had not been in long-term settled accommodation in the past month but had previously experienced it, were asked a multiple-choice question for the reasons they left their last settled home. This group included 59 women and 350 men.

Figure 3.2 below illustrates some of the gender-based differences in the reasons for leaving. For all respondents, the most commonly cited reason was inability to afford rent or mortgage payments (23% of respondents). This was not the most common reason for women however, as the trends were largely influenced by men due to the gender imbalance of respondents. Nearly one quarter (24%) of women who answered this question said a reason was eviction due to their behaviour, compared to 16% of men and 17% overall. Women were also disproportionately affected by neighbourhood safety concerns* (17%, which was statistically significant) and violence (12%) as reasons for leaving.

There was also a statistically significant difference in relationship breakdowns*. This was 13% percentage points higher for men and cited as the second most common reason for them leaving their last accommodation.

Figure 3.2: Reasons for leaving accommodation, as answered by a subset of respondents. These are selected answers from an extensive list in the questionnaire.

Figure 3.2 is a comparison bar chart showing reasons respondents could not find somewhere to stay after leaving their last accommodation, and the percentages stated by women and men.

Domestic abuse was not found to be significant as one of the cited reasons, however the analysis in Section 3.7 found that it was when participants were asked if this had ever happened to them.

All 960 respondents answered a multiple-choice question for the reasons that prevented them from finding accommodation the last time slept rough. Overall, the responses were broadly similar between women and men. The most notable difference was among those who cited a lack of time to seek help, reported by 11% of women compared to 7% of men.

Table 3.8: Reasons for sleeping rough after leaving prior accommodation

Reason for rough sleeping after leaving last accommodation	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
I didn’t know how to find accommodation or get help	31%	31%
No homeless accommodation locally available	28%	28%
I had no friends or family to ask for help	18%	17%
There wasn’t time to look for accommodation	11%	7%
Financial reasons	10%	11%
No help or support available	6%	6%

Other reasons were cited, but by less than 5% of women or men. The reasons included were: not wanting to ask for help, being unable to look for accommodation or ask for help, and issues with housing services.

Participants were also asked to provide a free-text response to the question “In your opinion, what are the reasons you were or are sleeping rough?” Participants gave a range of responses, which will be explored fully in a future publication. One area where there was a notable difference between responses from women and men was that more women reported reasons related to violence and abuse, consistent with the quantitative responses above. This was primarily fleeing abusive partners but some women also reported family violence or other conflicts (see section 3.7 for further detail):

• “I had to move out of my own property because of my aggressive neighbours.”
• “Ex-partner made me feel unsafe to be at last property”
• “Experienced domestic violence, lost my kids & home”

3.5 Services accessed

Key points:

• On average, women approached a similar number of service types (4.5) to men (4.0).

• Women more often engaged with housing officers (64%), food banks (54%), and social workers (28%)
• Despite this, 23% of women had not approached their local authority in over a year or ever, and 34% had never seen a housing officer. While these figures are substantial, men appeared to have even more limited contact, with 35% not approaching their local authority and 42% never having seen a housing officer

Women reported engaging with a wider range of services for homelessness or housing-related issues, approaching a mean average of 4.5 service types compared to 4.0 for men. Homelessness organisations were found to be the most commonly contacted, accounting for almost three quarters of service approaches by both men and women. There was a higher prevalence among women for contact with other services for housing issues. Examples include: housing officers (64% of women), food banks (54%), substance treatment (34%) and social workers (28%).

Table 3.9: Types of organisations respondents reported they have ever been in contact with while experiencing homelessness or housing problems

Types of services engaged with	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Homelessness organisations	73%	72%
Housing Officer or council one stop shop	64%	56%
Food bank	54%	42%
Health professional	36%	29%
Drug or alcohol treatment worker	34%	22%
Job Centre Plus Staff	30%	33%
Social Worker	28%	15%
Police	26%	20%
Housing association	22%	24%
Probation Officer	11%	19%
Prison Officer	9%	12%

Although all 960 respondents had slept rough in the past year, substantial portions of both women and men had not approached their local authority when they were homeless or at risk of homelessness in this period. Women reported approaching their local authority more often than men. Nearly one quarter (23%) said they last approached more than a year ago or never done so, and 34% said they had not seen a housing officer. Whereas for men these were 35% and 42% respectively. These observations suggest that while women were reportedly more engaged than men, a substantial gap in service contact for both groups remained.

Just under half of all respondents said that they had a positive experience using these services within the past year, which was similar among women (46%) and men (49%).

Responses were cross-referenced between the questions that asked where the respondent slept last night, (if they did not sleep rough) and who had they approached for help finding somewhere to stay the night before completing the survey. A summary for responses from women is shown in Figure 3.3 below.

Figure 3.3: Accommodation used by women who did not sleep rough the night before the survey, and their approaches for support with homelessness or housing problems

Figure 3.3 is a stacked bar chart showing accommodation used by women who did not sleep rough the night before the survey. The bars are stacked by types of organisations approached for support with homelessness or housing problems.

Whilst the total count for each location was relatively low, 38% of people who sofa surfed the night before completing the survey did not approach anyone for help. Whereas more than half of hostel users (57%) contacted homelessness organisations.

Participants were also asked to provide a free-text answer to the question “In your opinion, what are the problems you face or faced when trying to find somewhere to stay?” The themes men and women mentioned were broadly similar. However more women mentioned the challenges they encountered while sleeping rough on a day-to-day basis, rather than barriers to accessing accommodation such as financial barriers or lack of available housing.

One mentioned that a barrier to finding somewhere to stay was “Warrant checks, getting bullied”. While another mentioned “guys trying to have sex with me,” as a barrier.

Other barriers included administrative challenges and difficulty engaging with services. For example, one respondent mentioned “No support, unable to fill forms” and one participant describing barriers as “Communicating with people when you want to survive. Difficult to access services and reach out”

Multiple women also reported barriers related to addictions, physical and mental health:

• “I have mental health problems which have caused me problems in the past.”
• “Addiction and mental health issues”

Similar challenges were also mentioned when participants were asked for any other information they wanted to share about their homelessness experience. One said “It’s very dangerous for a woman. Men are trying to touch you, homeless guys are the most dangerous.  If you don’t sleep with them then they are against you.”

3.6 Mental, physical and general health

Key points:

• Nine in ten (91%) of women said they had some form of mental health need, a higher rate than for men (81%)
• Similar proportions of women (83%) and men (79%) had at least one physical health condition in the past year.
• Many health conditions affected more women than men, some of which were statistically significant. For example post-traumatic stress disorder and chest or breathing problems
• Women had worse self-assessments of their general health than men. One in five women rated their health as good or very good, compared to one in three men.

Respondents were asked if they have ever had difficulties with their mental health, their access to treatment for this, and if they currently had specific mental health conditions and disorders. Nine in ten (91%) of women said they had some form of mental health need*, a higher rate than for men (81%). This was also the most commonly observed support need identified for all respondents (see Section 3.8).

Most of the conditions specified were more prevalent for women, notably depression (83%) and anxiety (73%).

Figure 3.4: Prevalence of specified health conditions by gender. These are selected answers from an extensive list in the questionnaire.

Figure 3.4 is a comparative bar chart showing the percentage of respondents that reported having each mental health condition, split by women and men.

Of the conditions presented in Figure 3.4, all except one (ADHD or ADD) showed statistically significant gender differences. The most pronounced disparity was observed in reports of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)*, with 39% of women reporting the condition compared to 23% of men. This may be linked to the elevated levels of victimisation and safety concerns previously discussed in this report.

Respondents were also asked about any physical conditions they may have experienced in the last twelve months. Overall, similar proportions of women and men (83% and 79% respectively) reported having at least one physical health condition. Table 3.10 demonstrates that joint aches or problems with bones and muscles affected around half of women (52%) and men (48%).

Table 3.10: Prevalence of physical health conditions for women and men. Answers with less than 10% of responses were combined into ‘other health conditions’.

Health condition	Female (n = 151)	Male (n = 809)
Joint aches or problems with bones and muscles	52%	48%
Chest pain or breathing problems *	51%	38%
Dental problems	38%	37%
Problems with feet	26%	26%
Difficulty seeing or eye problems	25%	23%
Migraines *	23%	16%
Urinary problems or infections *	23%	10%
Problems with mobility (e.g. difficulty with walking)	21%	19%
Skin or wound infection problems	21%	20%
Circulation problems or blood clots *	20%	12%
Stomach or bowel problems	19%	18%
Throat problems or difficulty swallowing *	18%	10%
Fainting or blackouts	17%	18%
Difficulty with hearing or ear problems	13%	10%
Other physical health conditions	30%	28%
None of the above	13%	19%

There was a statistically significant difference in those who had chest pain or breathing problems, reported by 38% of men but half (51%) of women. Other conditions of significance where migraines, urinary problems, circulation problems or blood clots, and throat problems.

When self-assessing their health in general, women reported worse overall health than men. For women, 19% rated their health as good or very good, compared to 31% of men. Conversely, poor health was more common among women, of which 43% reported bad or very bad health, compared to 36% of men. For comparison, 82% of the general population in England self-reported their health as ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good’ in the last census.

3.7 Domestic abuse and victimisation

Key points:

• Three quarters (76%) of women had been victims of crime in the past 6 months, and 69% had experienced domestic abuse since age 16. These were far higher than rates for men, and were found to be statistically significant.
• Many women did not report incidents of domestic abuse and victimisation to emergency services, particularly those with longer-term abuse histories.
• Only 23% of women who were victims of crime received support services.

A substantial proportion of respondents reported having previously experienced domestic abuse. This was reported by 69% of women, compared to 31% of men, which was found to be a statistically significant difference*. One third (32%) of these women stated  they are currently in a relationship, and 43% reported having children under the age of 18 years.

Out of the women who reported an experience of domestic abuse, over one third said they have never contacted emergency services (such as the police, doctors or A&E) about their domestic abuse. Figure 3.5 shows that this amounted to 26% of all women in the survey.

Figure 3.5: Reports of domestic abuse victimhood by gender, and whether the respondent chose to report this to emergency services. Totals do not add up to 100% due to small proportions refusing to say or unsure they experienced this.

Figure 3.5 is a stacked bar chart showing the percentage of women and men who were victims of domestic abuse at any time/ The bars are stacked by engagement with emergency services.

When looking at women who were victims of domestic abuse within the past year, one in five never reported this to emergency services. For those who had experienced abuse more than 12 months ago, this was even greater at 47%. 

Separate questions were asked to identify those who had been victims of crime within the previous 6 months, and those who had interacted with the criminal justice system over the previous 12 months.

For all respondents, there was a high prevalence of those reporting have been arrested, cautioned or convicted in the past 12 months, but an even greater prevalence of those reporting being the victims of crime in the past 6 months. The percentage point difference between these responses was even greater for women than it was for men. Three quarters (76%) of women had been the victim of crime in the past 6 months, compared to 40% who had offended in the past year. In contrast, 60% of men had been the victims of crime and 34% had offended.

The differences in victimisation between women and men were found to be statistically significant*. For both women and men, most victims did not receive help from victim support services (Table 3.11 below).

Table 3.11: Victim experience and support given, by gender

Victim experience	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Victim of crime in past 6 months	76%	60%
…of which received victim support	23%	8%
…of which did not receive victim support	77%	92%

Experiences of domestic violence and crime were also reflected in the free text responses. Some illustrative examples are given below:

• “Had to leave an abusive relationship”
• “Ex partner made me feel unsafe to be at last property”
• “Split up with partner and left [area redacted] to escape him. violent towards me”

Women also reported that finding somewhere safe to say was a barrier to finding accommodation. Some women also reported that they did not feel comfortable or safe in shelters or shared accommodation.

• I’ve had lots of periods of temporary accommodation, but they are generally unsafe as they are full of drug addicts.
• Went into a refuge because of domestic abuse. She found it unsettling. It was hard the supported accommodation or dry house which was not her own home. She found it difficult to live with other people in similar situations[2]

Some women mentioned past experiences made living in shelters and other shared settings challenging.

• “Just a lot of mix people I try to keep myself to myself  ! Slamming doors brings out flash backs”

Experiences of abuse and crimes also sometimes exacerbated other challenges. For example one woman stated the barrier to her finding accommodation was,

• “No have documents my partner burned them”.

3.8 Multiple disadvantage and support needs

Key points:

• Multiple disadvantage (see definition below) was identified in considerably more women (84%) than men (65%).
• Most support needs and co-occurrences of these (including adverse school experiences and physical health issues) were also more prevalent among women.

Questionnaire responses were used to identify support needs for each participant, and those who met the definition of experiencing multiple disadvantage. This criterion was seen among 84% of women, considerably more than the 65% of men.

Over 98% of all respondents had at least one of the support needs identified in Table 3.12. Nearly all these were more prevalent with women, the highest of which was a current mental health need (see Section 3.6). This was reported by 91% of women and 81% of men. There was also high prevalence from all respondents reporting being a victim of crime within the previous 6 months (76% of women, 60% of men) and having an adverse school experience (65% of women, 62% of men).

Table 3.12: Prevalence of support needs for women and men

Support Need reported	Women (n = 151)	Men (n = 809)
Current mental health need *	91%	81%
Physical health need in past 12 months	83%	79%
Victim of crime in past 6 months *	76%	60%
Victim of domestic abuse (anytime since the age of 16) *	69%	31%
…Victim of domestic abuse in past 12 months *	23%	7%
Any adverse experience at school	65%	62%
Substance misuse issue in past 12 months	61%	52%
…Drug misuse issue in past 12 months	42%	38%
…Alcohol dependency in past 12 months	32%	27%
Criminal Justice System interaction in past 12 months	41%	39%
…Arrested, convicted or cautioned in past 12 months	40%	34%
…Left prison in past 12 months *	9%	16%
Ever spent time in prison (in the UK) *	38%	51%

Multiple, co-occurring support needs were common among all respondents, but more often for women. From the support needs in Table 3.12 that occurred within the past 12 months, 93% of women had more than one of these, compared to 75% of men.

The co-occurrence of three of the multiple disadvantage support needs (mental health, substance misuse, criminal justice system) are displayed in the Venn diagrams (Figure 3.6 and Figure 3.7) below. Nearly all women and men with an experience of domestic abuse were accounted within the cohorts with a current mental health need.

Figure 3.6: Venn diagram of multiple disadvantage support needs for women (n = 151)

Figure 3.6 is a Venn diagram showing the percentage of women that had combinations of mental health issues, substance misuse issues and criminal justice system interactions in the past year

Figure 3.7: Venn diagram of multiple disadvantage support needs for men (n = 809)

Figure 3.7 is a Venn diagram showing the percentage of men that had combinations of mental health issues, substance misuse issues and criminal justice system interactions in the past year.

For both men and women, the overlaps usually involved a mental health need. The co-occurrence of substance misuse and mental health needs was identified in nearly half (48%) of men, but more amongst women (58%).

Combinations of further overlapping support needs for women are displayed in Figure 3.8 below. The most frequent combination were women who had all seven support needs simultaneously (14% of women). Each combination displayed in Figure 3.8 contained support needs for mental health, physical health and at least one form victimhood (from crime in the past 6 months or domestic abuse at any point).

 Figure 3.8: Co-occurrences of selected support needs for women (n = 151).

Figure 3.8 is a bar chart showing the number of women for various combinations of seven support needs: Mental health issues, physical health issues, victim of crime in past 6 months, victim of domestic abuse (ever), adverse school experience, drug misuse issue in past year, CJS interaction in past year.

Nearly all (93%) women had at least three of the seven support needs simultaneously. This was higher than the rate for men (80%), which further underlines the complexity of issues women face beyond the existing definition of multiple disadvantage.

4. Conclusions

The 2025 Rough Sleeping Questionnaire provides detailed insights into the experiences of women who have slept rough in England. The findings from this research provides an evidence base for MHCLG to strengthen gender-informed policies that address the specific needs of women who sleep rough. This evidence demonstrates how women experiencing rough sleeping often face complex issues of personal safety concerns, health issues, and need for support services.

The women who participated in this survey displayed similar housing histories to men, but differed in their reasons for leaving their accommodation prior to rough sleeping. More often than men, women reported leaving their homes due to violence, domestic abuse, or threats to personal safety.

Support needs were identified from the questionnaire responses, for example problems with substance misuse and interactions with the criminal justice system. Nearly all of these were identified more commonly in women. Notable observations include 91% of women reporting a current mental health need and 83% reporting any form of physical health condition. The presence of co-occurring support needs highlight the extent of multiple disadvantage experienced by rough sleepers, and how these challenges differ between women and men.

Domestic abuse was found to be one of the most significant challenges in women’s rough sleeping experiences. This was reported by the majority of women (69%) in the survey. There were also high rates of victimisation from crime in the past six months, affecting 76% of women Despite this, support for recent crime victims was low, with only 23% of women in this group receiving help. Understanding these histories of victimhood is important to help women feel safe when seeking help from services for homelessness or housing issues.

The data showed that women tend to approach a broader range of services than men, including housing officers, food banks, and social workers. However, a substantial proportion both women and men reported not accessing local authority support. Different approaches for women and men may be required to improve their access to support. In particular, for women whose homelessness is less visible due to safety concerns.

Recognising these emerging issues, through data collections such as the RSQ, is an important step to inform rough sleeping services on how to effectively address gender-based differences in rough sleeping experiences and their role on housing instability.

* significant at p-value > 0.05