Safe space supports women sleeping rough in Cornwall
Figures reveal the number of women sleeping rough is significantly higher than current data suggests
A safe space run by a homelessness charity is supporting women sleeping rough in Cornwall.
A weekly women's only group is hosted by St Petrocs at their Breadline resource centre to provide support and community.
Faye Hookins, homeless support co-ordinator, said: "We know that women experience homelessness differently to men, often staying in vulnerable housing situations for a lot longer. To create a women's only space, a new group was set up at Breadline, Penzance.
"It's a lifeline for women"
"Women feel really comfortable to come and share and just be women together, while feeling safe. I always knew it was needed but I didn't realise how important it was until we started it. It is a lifeline for women, it may be the only thing they engage in all week.
"It doesn't necessarily matter what we are doing but it's about having that space to do something with your hands and the conversations flow. It's improved their wellbeing because they're not just seeing themselves as homeless women."
It comes as another charity warns the number of women rough sleeping is significantly higher than current data suggests.
The Single Homeless Project has told our investigation that the way homeless people are counted on a single night each autumn means that women are often missed.
Official figures show fewer than 6 hundred women are living on the streets in England.
In Cornwall, only 35 per cent of people sleeping homeless are women.
Lucy Campbell, from the Single Homeless Project, said: "The data is resulting in a real lack of women's provision which is problematic because women aren't getting their needs met but also it's perpetuating this problem of women not being identified at all because there aren't welcoming spaces for them to come in to.
"We know that women who experience homelessness in all forms are at far higher risk of physical and sexual attack than males are so obviously if you are a woman facing a night out in the elements, what you're going to do is hide yourself away as much as possible."