Women and the UK Housing Crisis

Executive Summary

Housing is central to people’s daily lives and future life chances. It shapes living standards, health, access to work, education and relationships. Housing costs are also a major driver of poverty and inequality. Yet the UK’s housing system is failing many households. Finding secure, affordable and decent housing has become increasingly difficult, particularly for people on lower incomes, younger households and those facing multiple forms of disadvantage. 

 Housing is also a gender issue. Women are more likely than men to rely on social housing, housing benefit, homelessness services and temporary accommodation. They have lower average incomes and wealth, spend more time undertaking unpaid care, and face higher levels of housing insecurity. These inequalities reflect broader gender inequalities in income, employment and caring responsibilities, but they are also reinforced by the way the housing system operates. 

 While there are significant differences within and between genders, this briefing finds that women experience distinct disadvantages across the housing system. These inequalities intersect with race, disability, migration status, age and household type, leaving some groups of women facing particularly acute housing insecurity. 

Key findings

• Women experience higher levels of housing insecurity than men, including greater reliance on private renting, unaffordable housing and difficulty keeping up with housing costs.
• Women’s lower average incomes and wealth reduce access to home ownership. In 2025, the average UK house price was around nine times the median man’s salary but thirteen times the median woman’s salary.
• Women are disproportionately reliant on the housing safety net, making them more affected by changes to social housing, housing benefit and homelessness services.
• Lone mothers, older women living alone, disabled women, racialised women and migrant women experience particularly high levels of housing insecurity due to intersecting inequalities.
• Housing is also central to tackling the climate crisis. Poor-quality homes contribute to fuel poverty, ill health and greenhouse gas emissions, while climate change is increasing risks from overheating and flooding.
• The housing system should better recognise homes as places where care takes place and support communities through well-designed, affordable and sustainable housing.

Key statistics

• 29% of women, compared with 25% of men, experienced at least one indicator of housing insecurity in 2022/23.
• Women made up 56% of social housing household reference persons in England in 2022/23.
• In 2025, the average UK house price was approximately 13 times women’s median earnings, compared with 9 times men’s.
• Women spent an average of 206 minutes per day on unpaid care and housework in 2024, compared with 136 minutes for men.
• Single parent households, the vast majority headed by women, experience disproportionately high rates of fuel poverty.

Key recommendations

The UK Women’s Budget Group calls for:

• Improved monitoring of the gender impacts of housing policy and better gender-disaggregated housing data.
• A substantial expansion of social housing, alongside support for shared ownership and community-led housing models.
• Annual uprating of Local Housing Allowance, an end to the benefit cap, and action to reduce housing costs and homelessness.
• Stronger regulation of housing quality across all tenures, including implementation of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
• Long-term investment in homelessness prevention, supported housing and specialist women’s organisations providing housing advocacy and support.
• Gender-responsive housing and planning policy developed in partnership with women’s organisations, environmental organisations and grassroots communities.
• Housing policy that contributes to both gender equality and climate goals through investment in affordable, healthy and energy-efficient homes.

Housing inequality is not inevitable. Tackling the UK’s housing crisis requires recognising the different ways women and men experience the housing system and embedding gender equality within housing policy. Investing in secure, affordable and sustainable homes would reduce poverty and homelessness, improve health and wellbeing, strengthen communities and support the transition to a fairer, greener economy.

Read the full briefing