Finding a Home

Abstract

This chapter begins by reviewing the recent changes in housing policy, as a backcloth against which to set women’s experiences of trying to find decent accommodation for themselves and their children. The central sections of the chapter examine different dimensions of housing inequality among women with children. The sections look in turn at women’s access to housing, the increase in homelessness among families with children and the role of council housing in accommodating mothers who cannot buy themselves out of this residual housing sector. The chapter concludes by considering some of the evidence which links poor health among mothers and their children to the poor housing in which they live.