A collection of women guest stories: Women’s Month 2026

*All guest names in this blog have been changed to protect their identities. 

Welcome to our third collection of guest stories, where we spotlight several guests that our Caseworkers have supported in the past year. We’ll be focusing on women guests to mark our annual Women’s Month 2026. 

In this blog, we’ll spotlight the stories of three women, Sylvia, Madihah and Claire*, from the perspectives of our Caseworkers who supported them. Their stories show how diverse and complex women’s homelessness is, and how our Caseworkers are dedicated to providing our women guests with tailored 1-to-1 trauma- & gender-informed support. 

Sylvia’s story 

Sylvia is in her late 70s and has been working with us for around nine months. Statutory services are being particularly slow with her case, perhaps because she’s staying with her daughter rather than rough sleeping, but this is an unsuitable living situation for an elderly woman. There are four other people living in her daughter’s flat, and she has no choice but to sleep on the sofa. 

She previously lived in a council flat in London, but due to circumstances out of Sylvia’s control, the flat was demolished. She was given some money for the loss of her home, but she invested it in a business which ultimately didn’t succeed, leaving her with very limited options. 

When Sylvia came to Glass Door Homeless Charity, we made a homeless application immediately. She had a lot of letters and paperwork to go through, and she struggled to make sense of it. The council is asking her a lot of questions, but her memory has become very bad and she’s unable to answer them.  

We've reached a point where the council are saying, unless you get these bank statements from 10 years ago, we can’t help you, but due to her worsening memory, she can't remember which bank she was with.   

As well as potential undiagnosed dementia, Sylvia has several other health conditions that make her a priority for emergency housing. But even being priority need isn’t enough – the council say they are unable to offer her anything unless she has all her documents in order, as evidence that she requires support. 

A lot of the work we’ve been doing at Glass Door for Sylvia has been gathering mental health reports, GP letters, bank statements, and just generally advocating for her with the council because she is finding it very difficult to do so herself.  

Despite her dire circumstances, Sylvia presents as incredibly positive and kind and has a very good relationship with her Caseworker. We’re still working with Sylvia and the council to make sure her case keeps moving forward, so she can hopefully move into a suitable place of her own.  

Madihah’s story 

Madihah was eight months pregnant when she came to one of our partner day centres for help. Having recently gained Refugee Status, she was staying in Home Office accommodation by herself. While she wasn’t immediately obliged to leave due to her far-along pregnancy, she needed to find more permanent housing. 

She understood that housing options were limited and was happy to be flexible and live outside of London, but unfortunately, Madihah was offered accommodation that was very far away from everyone she knew.  

Not wanting to be completely alone, without any kind of community or support present when she gave birth, Madihah understandably declined the offer. However, turning it down meant that her local council ended their duty to her, and she was asked to leave her Home Office accommodation. 

For a few nights over Christmas, Madihah stayed in our Women’s Winter Night Shelter, but during this time, her Caseworker was working to get her into emergency accommodation.  

Initially, her application for emergency accommodation was rejected, but we worked with a community law firm to ensure that the council fulfilled their legal duty to Madihah. There was an initial offer of social housing, but it was considered unsuitable for her needs as it would have been unfurnished and without flooring.  

The offer was withdrawn, and Madihah was eventually offered temporary accommodation just outside of London. She has now given birth to her new baby. 

Claire’s story 

Claire was in her late 30s and stayed at our Women’s Night Shelter for three months. When she came to Glass Door Homeless Charity, she had been street homeless for a number of years and had limited contact with frontline homeless services. She presented as withdrawn, reluctant to engage and malnourished following a significant amount of time spent rough sleeping and isolated from other people.   

She had long-term mental health problems and had been sectioned and hospitalised within the last year. Unfortunately, as is the case for a number of our guests, she was discharged back into homelessness from hospital, as she had nowhere else to go. 

After a few weeks in the night shelter, she became more talkative and willing to speak to the Casework Team and engage in support.  

We helped Claire link with the homeless mental health team and supported her in making a homeless application.   

Claire has now been placed in temporary accommodation and is known to mental health services. Her time in the night shelter was vital in being the bridge to get her into stable accommodation and off the street.   

These are just a few guest stories of women our Caseworkers have supported this past year, but they are not the only ones. 

It's important for us to shine light on the experiences of our guests – behind the numbers, there are hundreds of unique stories to share. Their stories give insight into the stark reality of women’s homelessness in London, and how we can help.