This chapter details the current situations in relation to the extent, nature and characteristics of women rough sleepers in each of the countries in the study. It will discuss the context of the problem of women rough sleepers in each country with regard to how much is currently known about women who sleep rough, previous research that has been carried out and also the current situation in each country with regard to legislation, policy and practice. It includes discussion of the relevant European literature on the subject of homelessness, the different social contexts of the organisations and women rough sleepers themselves who took part in the study and will highlight salient similarities and differences in responses from those interviewed and will contextualise this against the background of the current social, political and cultural climates within each country in the study. It includes literature reviews that were carried out by each partner country at the start of the project. These are important in order to contextualise the current situations in each country with regard to how much is currently known about women who sleep rough, previous research that has been carried out, available statistics and current policy and practice.

UK literature review

Within the UK most publications focus on rough sleeping among women as an aspect of the complex and wide ranging phenomenon of homelessness, which is broadly defined by leading charity, Crisis (2005, 1), as ‘the problem faced by people who lack a place to live that is supportive, affordable, decent and secure’. What is important is that the organisation makes the point that ‘[h]omelessness is about more than rooflessness. A home is not just a physical space: it provides roots, identity, security, a sense of belonging and a place of emotional wellbeing. Homelessness is about the loss of these’ (Crisis, 2010, 1). Although homelessness can encompass a range of different states including that of being in inadequate or insecure housing, the figure of the rough sleeper is perhaps most commonly brought to mind by the term ‘homelessness’ (Moss and Singh, 2012) and often works, in the western world at least, as socially and culturally iconic of the phenomenon as a whole (Glasser and Bridgman, 1999; May et al, 2007).