Rough sleeping is 'horrible' for homeless women

Sarah, not her real name, says she worries someone will take her dog

A homeless woman living in temporary accommodation has spoken of her fears over sleeping rough and "not knowing if someone's going to come and hurt you".

Sarah, which is not her real name, has been rough sleeping in Coventry since she became homeless with her husband and her dog in September 2023.

"I think that families should be kept together. I don't think I should have had to choose between separating from my husband to keep our dog or rehoming my dog," she said.

Coventry City Council is one of 80 local authorities taking part in a national census of women sleeping rough to get a better idea of the scale of women's homelessness.

Jim Crawshaw says the census will provide the council with a lot more detail

Charities claim women are often overlooked in the official figures and don't get the help they need, with many women scared to stay in "terrifying" mixed-sex hostels.

Jim Crawshaw, the council's head of homelessness and housing, said, "Women tend to sleep rough differently to men" and are often "less accessible to be found".

He said the census, which involves asking women if they had slept rough within the last three months, would give the authority a lot more detail.

"We then collate all that information, and we ask them a number of questions around where they've slept rough, and then that feeds back in nationally, and then the report is produced on the national picture," he explained.

Mr Crawshaw said questionnaires had already been completed by 29 women this week, compared to just 14 women across the whole of August.

Coventry City Council is taking part in a national census of women sleeping rough

Sarah, whose husband is forced to sleep on the streets when she stays in female-only accommodation, said sleeping rough was "horrible for me every day".

"It's even worse when I go back to my temporary accommodation that I live in because I feel so horrible because I know my husband's out there in all weathers and there's no one helping him," she said.

"We got kicked out [of our home] because of an ASBO [anti-social behaviour order] because someone was winding up our dog."

The pair, who have a four-year-old dog, ended up sofa surfing before Sarah was given temporary accommodation.

"I've been rough sleeping a few times because my husband's on the streets with our dog," she explained.

"There needs to more done to keep married couples who have animals together."