The article provides survey evidence on hidden homelessness in Germany. I use an indirect approach to survey those who live with friends, family or other people as so-called sofa surfers or couch surfers. The data come from three multi-topic, randomly sampled telephone surveys, which were carried out in 2019 and early 2020. The survey respondents reported whether they had hosted homeless friends, family or other persons. The results show that within a period of 12 months, about 3 per cent accommodated a person for at least one night. The results are consistent over three independent samples and the socio-demographic profile of the hidden homeless people fits well with results of previous research on other countries or using other approaches. I discuss potential caveats of telephone surveys with regard to potential bias in estimates of the prevalence of couch surfing and options how to assess and minimise bias. An alternative to telephone surveys would be to include questions on couch surfing and other forms of hidden homelessness in thematic modules on housing in recurrent household surveys. The present study shows the basic feasibility of collecting data on hidden homelessness from respondents in population surveys.
The article provides survey evidence on hidden homelessness in Germany. I use an indirect approach to survey those who live with friends, family or other people as so-called sofa surfers or couch surfers. The data come from three multi-topic, randomly sampled telephone surveys, which were carried out in 2019 and early 2020. The survey respondents reported whether they had hosted homeless friends, family or other persons. The results show that within a period of 12 months, about 3 per cent accommodated a person for at least one night. The results are consistent over three independent samples and the socio-demographic profile of the hidden homeless people fits well with results of previous research on other countries or using other approaches. I discuss potential caveats of telephone surveys with regard to potential bias in estimates of the prevalence of couch surfing and options how to assess and minimise bias. An alternative to telephone surveys would be to include questions on couch surfing and other forms of hidden homelessness in thematic modules on housing in recurrent household surveys. The present study shows the basic feasibility of collecting data on hidden homelessness from respondents in population surveys.