Finding Housing After Escaping Human Trafficking
For those currently being trafficked, their living situation is rarely a place of safety, but rather a coercion tool used by traffickers. Traffickers can maintain absolute control by dictating where one sleeps, potentially moving them across state lines or international borders to break support networks, and restricting their physical movements. When survivors finally break free, they face a daunting crisis: finding safe and stable housing. Research by Polaris Project shows that up to 80% of survivors experience homelessness after escaping the criminal industry of human trafficking; an industry that leaves them vulnerable to poverty, housing discrimination, and re-exploitation. The lack of a secure bed threatens to pull survivors right back into the cycle of abuse. To bridge this critical gap, specialty housing programs like Alabaster Jar Project’s Grace House step in, providing long-term, trauma-informed residential housing where survivors can find safety, rebuild their lives, and begin their journey toward lasting independence.
Where do trafficked individuals live?
While some live independently in their own homes, many are trapped under the very same roof as those who exploit them. Home, which should be a sanctuary of safety, becomes a place of captivity and fear. This reality typically takes two forms:
Close ties with their exploiter
Popular culture often portrays trafficking as a sudden kidnapping; someone snatched off the street by a stranger in a white van and locked away in a dark basement. However, the reality is far more heartbreaking. Most often, the abuser turns out to be a trusted friend, family member, or romantic partner (referred to as ‘Boyfriending’) sharing the same home. Traffickers exploit love, trust, and intimacy to trap their targets, using deep emotional manipulation to break their resolve. This makes identifying a trafficking situation incredibly difficult, as they remain hidden in plain sight while their suffering goes unnoticed by outsiders.
Controlled Housing
In labor trafficking, exploiters often force people into highly controlled, monitored, and overcrowded environments known as employer-provided housing or tied accomodation. Here, basic human dignity is stripped away. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the signs and conditions of controlled housing include:
Overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe living conditions
Denial of adequate food, water, or basic necessities
Constant surveillance, heavy monitoring, and oppressive supervision
Excessive, arbitrary, and dangerous work demands
Forced isolation from transit, loved ones, and the outside world
Frequent dislocation and forced moves to prevent grounding
Complete restriction of movement, leaving individuals unable to freely step outside
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Trafficking Indicators.
Ultimately, both situations share a devastating commonality: for someone enduring this nightmare, escaping trafficking often means losing their shelter. Fleeing their exploiter could mean stepping directly into homelessness, leaving survivors acutely vulnerable to re-exploitation.
Homelessness in the Cycle of Exploitation
Without specialized safe homes to turn to, such as Alabaster Jar Project’s Grace House, survivors escaping abuse often step into the life of homelessness, left completely exposed to re-exploitation. Why do traffickers target the unhoused population? Traffickers prey on desperation, and those experiencing homelessness have an overwhelming need for food, shelter, and basic survival that makes them easy targets for predatory promises. A warm bed or a single meal becomes the bait used to trap them back into the life of trafficking. In fact, a study by Polaris Project revealed that a heartbreaking 64% of survivors were unhoused or facing housing instability when they were recruited into trafficking.
Source: Polaris Project, Human Trafficking and Housing & Homelessness
Here in San Diego, California, the home base of Alabaster Jar Project, this crisis hits devastatingly close to home. Our community struggles under the weight of a severe housing crisis, making San Diego a primary hub for human trafficking and placing it among the top 13 cities nationwide cited by the FBI for sex trafficking. The sheer size of our unhoused population directly fuels this epidemic. The City of San Diego reports that among juvenile sex trafficking victims, a staggering 55% were homeless when their abuse began.
Source: City of San Diego, Human Trafficking Awareness Month, District 2 2017 Update
When survival depends on finding shelter for the night, the line between freedom and exploitation blurrs, trapping individuals in an exhausting cycle that feels almost impossible to break.
The Heartbreaking Struggle to Find a Home
A roof over one's head is more than just shelter; it is the essential foundation of safety, dignity, and peace that allows survivors to finally heal and rebuild their lives. Yet, for survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, the door to a safe home is constantly locked shut by compounding, systemic barriers:
No Rental History: Years spent under a captor's control leave survivors with completely blank housing records.
No Proof of Income: Financial abuse and forced labor deprive individuals of legal pay stubs or verifiable employment.
Lack of Personal References: Deep isolation leaves survivors without traditional landlords or character references to vouch for them.
Missing Proof of Identity: Traffickers routinely confiscate, withhold, or destroy vital documents like birth certificates, IDs, and Social Security cards.
Wrongful Criminal Records: Criminal charges resulting directly from their forced exploitation, such as prostitution, follow survivors, raising red flags in their background checks.
How Alabaster Jar Project Bridges the Housing Gap for Surviors
Our dedicated case managers walk alongside survivors to dismantle these barriers step-by-step. By serving as advocates and connecting clients to resources, our team helps survivors overcome the obstacles standing between them and a place to call home.
Grace House: Alabaster Jar Project
Grace House: Alabaster Jar Project’s Long Term Housing Program
While navigating these obstacles can feel overwhelming, survivors do not have to rebuild their lives in isolation. Their journey from liberation to sustainable independence requires continuous levels of support, not only addressing emergency housing needs but also by providing resources to overcome complex, long-term hurdles. This is where Alabaster Jar Project steps in to close the gap. Our Grace House program, a 2-year long-term housing program in Escondido is designed for female survivors over 18 years old, providing a safe residential sanctuary where clients are given the space, time, and resources needed to heal. By pairing stable housing with our programming, survivors are empowered to navigate legal challenges, overcome employment barriers, and build essential life and financial literacy skills in a supportive, dignity-affirming setting.
True recovery extends beyond basic survival and requires restoring personal agency, regulating the nervous system, and rebuilding a meaningful life. At Alabaster Jar Project, survivors work alongside our compassionate community to build healthy daily routines, process trauma, and foster trusting relationships. By walking beside survivors every step of the way, AJP and Grace House ensures that liberation is not just an escape from trauma, but the beginning of a thriving, independent future.