Housing instability and homelessness are some of the biggest risk factors for both labor and sex trafficking. In fact, 64% of human trafficking survivors surveyed by Polaris were homeless or experiencing unstable housing at the time they were recruited into a trafficking situation.
At the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, we field calls and texts to our 24/7 Human Trafficking Hotline from both survivors and service providers across Colorado. The number one, most pressing need? Safe shelter and housing.
Housing instability is both a cause and a consequence of human trafficking
When someone doesn’t have access to basic needs like shelter and housing, their choices become limited. They become vulnerable to traffickers, who may take advantage of knowing that someone doesn’t have a safe place to call home or a strong support system. Traffickers may promise housing in exchange for labor or sex. They use force, fraud, or coercion to maintain control.
“Uneven power dynamics are intensified by the existence of someone’s unmet needs,” explains Marla Sutherland, LCHT’s Research Manager. “For survivors of trafficking, that unmet need is often housing.” Once someone is exploited, getting out of the trafficking situation is even more challenging without a safe place to live. And without long-term stable housing, survivors are more likely to experience trafficking again.
One participant in our most recent research initiative, The Colorado Project 2023, explained this cycle: “Everybody is in short-term housing. As soon as they’re ineligible for short-term housing, there is no long-term housing, and so they end up back in whatever the terrible situation was, which is often being unhoused. It’s the vicious cycle that happens.”
Why safe housing was a turning point for Ruby
LCHT team member Marla has extensive experience in homeless response systems in Colorado. She’s seen firsthand how access to housing security can influence someone’s life. “The types of choices someone can make once they secure safe housing and support services shift drastically,” she says.
Marla recalls the story of Ruby (name changed for privacy), who was moved around from system to system as a young person. Eventually, she was placed in a group home. But guardians of the home abused many of the youth in their care. After aging out of the home at age 18, Ruby became homeless.
Ruby didn’t access resources through systems like emergency shelters because those same systems had failed and harmed her. Without a safe place to stay, she relied on the people she met on the streets. Ruby’s homelessness left her vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation, realities that further underscored how critical safe housing was to her future.
When Ruby moved into her first stable housing, she felt the immediate relief that came with the ability to lock her front door. She could choose who she let in her home. The agency that had been taken from her as a child and adolescent started to be restored..
Over time, Ruby’s survival techniques shifted. She started therapy, secured financial aid to attend community college, got a job, and made new friends at work and school. “Ruby’s place to call her own helped her bloom into a world of possibilities that were not statistically likely from the type of childhood she was raised in,” Marla reflects. “The first step was housing, and then the other pieces started to fall into place.”
What the research says: The need for housing tops the list
In 2023, LCHT released its most recent Colorado Project to Comprehensively Combat Human Trafficking. One of the clearest findings: housing instability and homelessness remain the top challenge for survivors. If local anti-trafficking partnerships had unlimited resources, housing would be the first issue they’d tackle.
The research also showed that people facing housing insecurity, immigration challenges, or involvement with the child welfare system are at higher risk of exploitation. That is especially true when their basic needs are unmet.
But today’s response systems don’t always work well together, aren’t fully trauma-informed, and often don’t have enough resources. “Without coordinated, community-centered solutions, vulnerable populations continue to fall through the systemic cracks and structural inequities,” Marla says.
When basic needs like housing are met, the risks that lead to exploitation drop dramatically. That’s why Marla and the LCHT research team are now working on our next research effort, The Colorado Project 2028, which will continue to study trafficking across the state and what’s being done to address it.
This research will also explore opportunities to collaborate with groups focused on supporting people experiencing homelessness, systems-involved youth, and immigrant communities. By looking at the factors that put people at risk, as well as the supports that help them heal and thrive, we can develop recommendations to strengthen the statewide response to human trafficking.
Promising signs of progress in Denver
In July 2025, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston shared historic news: the city had reduced street homelessness by 45% in just two years. Family homelessness dropped by 78%, and more Veterans now have permanent housing.
The city’s report also noted that large encampments were cleared as part of its overall strategy. This is an approach that has been the subject of debate among service providers and advocates. Ultimately, Denver’s progress has been the largest multi-year decrease in street homelessness by any city in U.S. history.
To Marla, the news shows what’s possible when a city prioritizes housing and partners across sectors. “Mayor Johnston’s update signals that homelessness solutions must be strategic, collaborative, and person-centered,” she says. “Political will and investment to make homelessness rare, short-lived, and non-recurring are important foundations in anti-trafficking progress, too.”
But the work isn’t done. “At a time when the homeless response system is facing a shift in federal priorities, it’s important to follow evidence-based approaches and trauma-informed practices in reducing homelessness,” Marla adds. “To remain person-centered in the solution is imperative, as homelessness is often caused by structural and systemic failures, rather than the sole responsibility of the individuals.”
Survivors and at-risk individuals are still slipping through the cracks—especially when shelters are full, eligibility requirements are strict, or housing isn’t truly affordable. Housing needs to be attainable, too, taking into account someone’s criminal background, credit history, and access to support services to retain that housing.
Recommendations for change, rooted in collaboration
So, what can be done to address the challenges of housing and homelessness for survivors of human trafficking? LCHT’s Colorado Project 2023 outlined a number of steps that would make a difference for survivors and the systems that serve them, including:
- Colorado needs to increase and diversify safe, stable, and trauma-informed housing options and support services for survivors of trafficking. Policies that protect all individuals’ access to support and housing need to be put in place.
- Shelter beds within existing housing services, like domestic violence or youth shelters, need to be allocated to survivors of human trafficking.
- Shelter and street outreach staff need to be trained to recognize the signs of human trafficking—and learn how to respond safely and compassionately on the frontlines.
- Anti-trafficking advocates need to be involved in statewide housing conversations and partnerships. At the same time, housing sector professionals need to be integrated into anti-trafficking partnerships.
“By bridging solidarity across parallel issue areas, we are ensuring the most effective use of resources and remaining person-centered in our approaches,” Marla says. When we join forces, we build more compassionate systems and get closer to breaking the cycle of exploitation.
Ending human trafficking starts with a place to call home
Making sure people can meet their basic needs, like shelter, is one of the most powerful ways to reduce the risk of human trafficking. Housing insecurity and human trafficking are intersecting and complex—and so are their solutions. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work.
“Humans are multi-faceted, and our identities are intersectional: race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, economic status. Our lived experiences vary: trauma history, substance use, disabilities, mental health, housing insecurity,” Marla says. “People who experience homelessness are diverse and multifaceted. Systems of oppression are interwoven, so our solutions must be, too.”
Eliminating human trafficking won’t be possible until every person has a safe place to call home. Housing gives survivors choices and agency. With that foundation, safety becomes possible.