Housing regime makes homeless women invisible

Yesterday, the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness launched Ngā Ara ki te Kāinga: Understanding Barriers and Solutions to Women’s Homelessness in Aotearoa.

This research highlights how housing policy has failed to recognise the unique challenges faced by women experiencing homelessness, leaving them invisible in the system.

💡 Key Findings:

- Women make up 50% of those severely housing-deprived, with wāhine Māori disproportionately affected.

- Homelessness peaks at age 25 and is rising for women over 65.

- Hidden homelessness includes couch-surfing, unsafe relationships, and survival strategies like sex work, exposing women to violence.

- Severely housing-deprived women are more likely to have children, face unmet health needs, and lack access to key services like mental health support and driver’s licenses.

The report calls for urgent action: housing policies must account for the gendered realities of homelessness. We can create a fairer, more effective system by collecting better data, prioritising women and their children, and fostering partnerships between government, iwi, and communities.

It’s time to make women visible in the housing crisis.

#WHWT #EndWomensHomelessness #HousingForAll #Aotearoa