Report: Homeless women need safe, affordable, private housing and shelters

When it comes to public visibility, homeless people are among the most often overlooked. And given the overlapping intersectionalities of gender, the plight of women living in homelessness receive even less attention. Los Angeles County’s periodic needs assessment aims to shed light on this particularly vulnerable population by helping regional administrators better understand specific challenges faced by homeless women.

“Women experiencing homelessness as individuals—those who are not accompanied by or seeking services with a partner, children, or other dependents—are a growing population in Los Angeles County and nationally,” the report says, noting there were approximately 14,000 women living in homelessness on any given night last year. “These women make up 68 percent of all women experiencing homelessness and 20 percent of all individuals experiencing homelessness.”

Notably, Los Angeles city and county recognized unhoused, unaccompanied women as a distinct, vulnerable group in 2020 that requires unique policies and services. In a survey of nearly 600 unhoused women conducted last year for the report—in collaboration with the Urban Institute and the Hub for Urban Initiatives—safety and privacy were noted by respondents as their top concerns. Most were middle aged or older (59%), but 13% were between the ages of 18 and 24. They were an average of about 32 years old when they first experienced homelessness.

More than 90% reported experiencing some sort of victimization. About 70% said something had been stolen from them at some point, 57% said they’d been repeatedly harassed or threatened, and 48% said they’d been threatened, physically hit or made to feel unsafe by a romantic partner. Threats or violence from a romantic partner were listed as a notable reason cited by respondents for their homelessness (20% of all women, 44% of those who reported experiencing violence).

Almost 70% of those surveyed said they “often slept in unsheltered locations, including on the streets (40%); in cars, vans, or RVs (23%); on beaches or riverbeds (3%); and on public transportation (2%),” the report says. “Among women who most often slept in sheltered locations, they reported sleeping in short-term, temporary, or transitional housing (20%) or in hotels or motels (2%).” Other sleeping situations included couch surfing.

When trying to secure housing and move off the streets, respondents reported facing significant barriers, chief among them high costs. More than 60% of respondents said they couldn’t afford available housing, and 55% said there were long wait lists to access vouchers or public housing.

“Without being able to access housing and exit homelessness, women need the crisis response system, including access to shelter and other services, to keep them safe. Unfortunately, women reported significant barriers to accessing or using shelters as well,” with more than half of women reporting they feel unsafe in shelters, the report says.

Not enough shelter openings (45%), privacy concerns (45%), and a lack options (42%) were also cited as barriers. Only about 5% of respondents said they didn’t have a problem accessing or staying in shelters.

“Black and African American women were more likely to be concerned about the way they would be treated by shelter staff compared with non-Hispanic white women, Hispanic and Latina women, and women of two or more races. And cisgender women were significantly more likely to report facing no barriers to using shelters than were transgender and nonbinary individuals,” the report says, noting that Black women are overrepresented among homeless women (more than 3.5 times their share of the general population.

When asked what they want in housing, the overwhelming majority ranked affordability, safety and privacy as their top requirements. For emergency situations, 40% said they prefer women-only shelters.

The report puts forward a number of key recommendations based on the findings. Among other recommendations, administrators should support efforts to collect data on homeless women. Housing assistance should be raised to meet needs. Safety should be prioritized throughout shelter systems. Dignity should be provided in the absence of housing—70% of women said it was difficult to find a bathroom, and 60% said they had a hard time finding a shower.