International Women’s Day
Honour Women by Ending Homelessness for Women Across Ireland and the EU
As we mark International Women’s Day 2026, our celebration of women’s achievements must be grounded in honesty about who is being left behind. In Ireland and across the European Union, homelessness isn’t just rising — it is increasingly affecting women in profound and often unseen ways. Despite being celebrated for resilience and strength, too many women lack the security of a stable home.
In Ireland, homelessness has continued its relentless climb. By the end of 2025, nearly 17,000 people were accessing emergency accommodation, including more than 4,600 women, representing roughly 40% of adults experiencing homelessness. These figures mark an increase on previous years and are the highest on record — and they exclude those sofa-surfing, living in domestic violence refuges, staying in Direct Provision, or otherwise hidden from official statistics.
Data shows that women now constitute around 40 – 42% of the adult homeless population in Ireland, a significant departure from the male-dominated image of homelessness and well above many European patterns. The majority of families with children experiencing homelessness are single-parent families headed by a mother. Another example of the additional pressure on women trying to escape the trauma of homelessness.
Behind these numbers are real women with distinct pathways into homelessness — pathways shaped by gendered experiences of economic insecurity, unpaid caring responsibilities, the ongoing housing affordability crisis, and especially domestic and gender-based violence. Women fleeing violence often find emergency accommodation systems full, and without enough safe refuge spaces, they wind up dependent on overcrowded and often inappropriate emergency housing. This drives women into “hidden homelessness” — couch-surfing or living in precarious arrangements that aren’t counted in government tallies.
The EU Picture: Rising Homelessness, Gendered Realities
The crisis isn’t unique to Ireland. Across the European Union, homelessness is rising sharply due to soaring rents, shortages of affordable housing, and economic strains. Recent estimates suggest that well over 1.2 million people across the EU are experiencing homelessness — including rough sleeping, stays in shelters, and temporary accommodation.
In this broader European context, women make up a substantial share — often about 30 – 35% of people known to be experiencing homelessness — and in specific countries, a greater share of family homelessness. This proportion is higher than commonly assumed, given the invisibility of women’s homelessness in official counts due to hidden forms like couch-surfing and reliance on informal networks.
While men are more likely to be counted as experiencing homelessness in street counts and shelter statistics, women languish in less visible forms of homelessness, often juggling childcare, healing from violence, or navigating precarious labour markets — factors that deepen vulnerability. The EU’s own policy assessments highlight the growing complexity of homelessness and the need for gender-informed strategies.
Why This Matters This International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day isn’t just about celebrating achievements — it’s about confronting inequalities. Homelessness strips women of fundamental security and dignity. It disrupts education, employment, health and parenting. It leaves survivors of violence unsafe and vulnerable. And it’s growing at a time when Ireland has urgent opportunities — from Budget 2027 investment decisions to national housing and homelessness strategies — to do better.
Women-specific services, accessible domestic violence refuge spaces, tenancy protection, affordable housing supply, and precise gender-disaggregated data are all critical if we are to end homelessness for women.
Ending homelessness for women — whether in Ireland or across the EU — requires us to recognise it as a gendered social justice issue. Women experiencing homelessness are not statistics; they are mothers, carers, workers, survivors, and neighbours whose exclusion impoverishes all of us.
In 2026, Ireland will hold the Presidency of the EU and we at Simon Communities of Ireland have been calling for an EU Council Recommendation on Homelessness. We need to recommit to our declaration to work towards ending homelessness by 2030 as part of the Lisbon Declaration and we need to realise that women make up significant percentages of our single adults in homelessness, as well as in the family figures.
This International Women’s Day, let’s move beyond rhetoric and commit to real, measurable action so that in the year ahead, fewer women know the insecurity of homelessness — and more women know the security of a home.
