Investing in improvements

Only 20 per cent of female heads of household had upgraded their dwellings as opposed to 24 per cent of male and 27 per cent of joint heads of household.

This is another reflection of the position of female heads of household in the rental rather than ownership or squatting tenure groups.

Respondents were asked whether their place had got better, stayed the same or got worse over the last five years. Whereas 33 per cent of female-headed households thought the place had got worse this was true of only 26 per cent of joint-headed households.