Press Release 
October 17, 2002 
**For Immediate Release**

>From Sistering and the Canadian Women’s Health Network:


Degree of Women’s Homelessness Underestimated, Study Finds
The full extent of women’s homelessness is severely underestimated, a new 
study finds. Commissioned by the charitable organization, Sistering, and 
funded by Health Canada and the Status of Women Canada, Common Occurrence: 
The Impact of Homelessness on Women’s Health highlights homelessness as a 
significant women’s health issue that seriously impacts women’s emotional, 
mental, spiritual and physical health.
Building on the realization that women’s homelessness has not been 
adequately represented in other studies, and that the continuum of 
homelessness for women has not been fully understood, researchers sought to 
incorporate both ‘hidden’ and ‘visible’ homelessness in their report:

Visible homelessness includes women who stay in emergency hostels and 
shelters and those who sleep rough in places considered unfit for human 
habitation, such as parks and ravines, doorways, vehicles, and abandoned 
buildings.

Hidden homelessness includes women who are temporarily staying with friends 
or family or are staying with a man only in order to obtain shelter, and 
those living in households where they are the subject of family conflict or 
violence. Hidden homelessness also includes situations where women are 
paying so much of their income for housing that they cannot afford the other 
necessities of life, such as food; those who are at risk of eviction; and 
those living in illegal or physically unsafe buildings, or in overcrowded 
households.

Researchers also address women’s homeless-specific health concerns, 
including the barriers homeless women face in the current systems of 
support. The study finds that social and medical services are not fully 
responsive to homeless women’s health care issues and needs. The report 
includes a number of recommendations that reflect the lived realities of 
homeless women’s lives.


Common Occurrence Research Action Report: The Impact of Homelessness on 
Women’s Health is available from Sistering.

To interview the study authors contact:
Sistering 
Angela Robertson, Executive Director 
523 College Street, 
Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A8 
Email: [log in to unmask] 
Phone: (416) 926-9762 ext. 226 
Fax: (416) 926-1932 
Website: http://www.sistering.org

Mona Dupré-Ollinik, BSW, BA
Coordonatrice de liaison/Outreach Coordinator
Canadian Women's Health Network/Réseau canadien pour la santé des femmes
419, avenue Graham, Suite 203
Winnipeg (MB) R3C 0M3

Tel: (204) 942-5500 ext,/poste 13
Fax/Télécopieur: (204) 989-2355
Toll free/Numéro sans frais: 1-888-818-9172
www.cwhn.ca 
e-mail/courriel: [log in to unmask]

TTY 204-942-2806 
TTY toll free number 1-866-694-6367

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