Tenure of single people: by sex, Great Britain, 2006
In Great Britain in 2006, men were more likely than women to own their home either outright or with the help of a mortgage. More than three-quarters of men owned their home compared with three-fifths of women. In contrast, women in all marital status groups were more likely than men to rent their homes from the social sector. There was less of a distinction between the sexes for those privately renting their homes.
In 2006, one-third (31 per cent) of all households in Great Britain consisted of only one person. This includes people of all marital status' including single (never married), separated, divorced or widowed. Of the single people, 51 per cent of men were owner-occupiers, either owning their homes outright or buying with a mortgage, compared with 41 per cent of women. Around one-third of single men and one-quarter of single women were buying their homes with the help of a mortgage. Widowers were also more likely than widows to be owner-occupiers, with 72 per cent of widowers and 66 per cent of widows owning their property or having a mortgage. For divorced or separated men and women there was little difference in owner-occupation, with about half of each sex either owning their own home outright or having a mortgage.
Single men were more likely to rent from the private sector than single women, 25 per cent compared to 19 per cent. However, the pattern was reversed for renting from the social sector with two-fifths (41 per cent) of single women being social renters compared with around a quarter of single men (24 per cent).
A quarter of families with dependent children in Great Britain were lone parent families in 2006. Women headed nine out of ten lone parent families and nearly half of lone mothers were single (never married).
Lone adult households accepted as homeless by local authorities: by household type, England, Q1 2008
The Housing Act 1996, places a statutory duty on local authorities to provide assistance to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and fall within a priority need group. Included in these priority need groups are pregnant women and people with dependent children. Consequently homeless families, including lone parents, are considered one of the high priority groups for social housing.
Of the 15,000 households in England accepted as homeless in the first quarter of 2008, half were lone parent households. Of these, 46 per cent were headed by a female and 4 per cent by a male. One person households made up a quarter of the total number of households with 14 per cent sole males and 11 per cent sole females.
In the same period in England, 45 per cent of households in temporary accommodation were female lone parent households with dependent children and 3 per cent were male lone parent households with dependent children. Overall, one person households accounted for one in five households in temporary accommodation.
Source: General Household Survey (Longitudinal), Office for National Statistics; Communities and Local Government
Note: Data for tenure by sex presented here is based on Household Reference Person (HRP). In the General Household Survey (GHS) this is defined as the person with the highest income in joint households. If both householders have the same income then the oldest is taken to be the HRP. There is therefore a disproportionate amount of male HRPs because men tend to have higher incomes than women.
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