The York Research Database

The current evidence base indicates that long-term and recurrent homelessness is experienced by a minority of homeless people who are characterized by high support needs. Until recently, long-term and recurrent homelessness has been seen as a highly gendered social problem, disproportionately experienced by men, with relatively little attention paid to women experiencing repeat or prolonged homelessness. This chapter argues that there is growing evidence that women may experience long-term and recurrent homelessness, but in a different way from men. It examines the evidence base on long-term and recurrent homelessness and argues that there may be a significant under-representation of women’s experience of long-term homelessness in contemporary homelessness research. As a consequence, knowledge and understanding of women’s particular experience of long-term homelessness is weak, which in turn compromises the development of policy responses and services that work to prevent women from entering into a cycle of unresolved homelessness.