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This block of Raleigh has human trafficking victims - and they need housing

Advocates fighting to end human trafficking are pushing for more transitional housing options for victims who have escaped or been rescued.


Advocates fighting to end human trafficking are pushing for more transitional housing options for victims who have escaped or been rescued.


For the past year, Pastor Christopher Jones and his organization Ship of Zion have walked the 2900 block of South Wilmington Street, where Jones says human trafficking victims and perpetrators can be found.


"It looks desolate [by day]. Later on this evening you will have a lot of women walking up and down the street," says Jones.


His group has helped take 7 women off the streets who were involved in human trafficking or prostitution.

“Someone is always watching. As we are standing here I guarantee we are being watched. I don’t see anybody. But they are watching you," he says.


WRAL Data trackers are watching the numbers, and discovered there have been 71 reports of human trafficking in Raleigh since 2018. Last year there were 10. In January, there were 4. February had none.


"I haven’t met a woman yet that says she wants to be out there," says Jones.

Over the phone WRAL News talked with one of the outreach workers, who wished to remain anonymous for security purposes. She shared that victims of human trafficking are in various areas of the Triangle.

“Some are in the woods, some are in the campgrounds, some are in the hotels," she says. The biggest obstacle is finding them transitional housing. The Ship of Zion has worked with Healing Transitions, a recovery center, to help women find a place to stay, but that building only has so much space. “First thing we got to do we have to give them a place to stay," says Jones.

In 2021, PNC awarded the group a grant to help people transition out of a life of crime through employment training. Now, Ship of Zion is working to get grants and partner with others to create transitional housing for the victims of human trafficking and prostitution.


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Restoring Hope To Justice-Involved Women

Women offenders have special needs that often are not addressed during incarceration. As a result, transitioning from incarceration can be challenging and even impossible for many.

 

In 2021, there were roughly 228 women who returned to the Triangle area from state prison and in 2022, that number increased slightly to 232 (NC DPS - Office of Research & Planning, 2023). Also in 2022, there were more than 800 women serving their sentences on community probation throughout the Triangle area. Of both parolees and probationers, more than 80% were mothers of minor children and had the primary responsibility for their care prior to and following incarceration. Ex-incarcerated women are more likely than their male peers to experience higher levels of poverty, homelessness and abuse following a jail or prison term--making the post-prison transition much more difficult.

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Research suggests that focusing on the differences between female and male conduits to criminality as well as applying gender-specific interventions, results in more positive outcomes. In the end, the application of specialized practices in criminal justice reform equals greater success for women ex-offenders when attempting to re-establish new pathways to society. It is also proven that the implementation of community-based, gender-responsive practices contributes to lower rates of female recidivism which in turn benefits justice-involved women, their families, the community and society as a whole.

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