Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will consider a) adopting a gender-informed definition of rough sleeping and homelessness, b) providing local authorities with tools, resources, and guidance on gathering accurate and inclusive data on women’s rough sleeping and homelessness and c) providing gender-informed guidance to enable local authorities to ensure services and systems are equitable, accessible and safe for women, matched with appropriate levels of funding to do so.

The Government recognises that women experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping have different experiences and needs to men.

The Government introduced a new question in the Rough Sleeping Monthly Management Information to capture the gender of those sleeping rough over the course of a month, rather than on a single night.

The Government has increased funding for homelessness services by £316 million to a record total of more than £1 billion. Local authorities can use this money to respond to local need, including those of women in their area. We are considering the needs of different cohorts in our cross-Government homelessness strategy, which will be published later this year.