It could be you: Female, Single, Older and Homeless

This report documents a collaborative project which sought to interrogate the experience of older women and the re ection of that experience in policy. The project sought an inclusive homelessness defnition, and to build a more robust knowledge base through which to inform policy and service delivery to this group. The study was prompted by evidence of increasing numbers of older women entering for the rst time the homeless population, and the concern of the homeless service system that demand could not be met. To put the experience of these older women into context the study examined the evidence of the combined impact of housing trends affected by changing demographics, the impact of ageing, and entrenched nancial disadvantage on women. Combined with the qualitative evidence from the thirty one homeless older women, the study concluded that being female, older, and single is to be at housing risk.