Left Outside: The Vulnerability of Survivors Facing Housing Instability

The reactions to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson are still rippling across the country. At the end of June, the Court held that arresting a person sleeping outside for lack of housing is not a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment by the government. Although the decision does not mandate that state and local governments arrest people who are unhoused, it fails to acknowledge their lack of choice — such as how many people face remaining in an abusive home or experiencing homelessness.

Allowing the criminalization of homelessness impacts the anti-human-trafficking field and the victims, survivors, and vulnerable groups whom Polaris and our partners support. Americans of all backgrounds and experiences are struggling with the skyrocketing costs of housing and meeting basic needs. But financial instability and a lack of safe and affordable housing are magnified exponentially for victims and survivors of trafficking.

Understanding the Intersection of Homelessness and Human Trafficking

In general, unaffordable housing is still a top cause of homelessness in the nation, with 41 states seeing an increase in people who were not housed between 2022 and 2023. Further, abuse is one of the leading causes of homelessness for women and children, with 90% of homeless women experiencing physical or sexual violence at some point in their lifetimes.

Similarly, Polaris’s National Survivor Study (NSS) found that homelessness and housing insecurity can be a vulnerability making someone more susceptible to trafficking. Of survey respondents, 64% reported facing homelessness, houselessness, or housing insecurity as children. Traffickers often target this vulnerability by providing a place to stay as a means of building trust before exploiting it.

The NSS also highlighted that trafficking can lead to homelessness and housing instability. Seventy percent of survivors reported finding a safe place to stay as one of their top needs when they exited their trafficking situation. This challenge becomes even more dire for survivors who were criminalized during their trafficking experience, as 59% reported issues getting housing due to their criminal record.

The significance of housing is also apparent in the needs of current and prospective participants in the Polaris Resilience Fund, a guaranteed-income pilot providing cash payments to survivors for up to 18 months. Emerging trends from the mid-program evaluation show that most survivors in the inaugural cohort use their monthly disbursements to cover rent and other housing costs. Meanwhile, one in four survivors interested in future cohorts say they would put financial assistance toward housing costs. One survivor shared the following:

“I recently fled my trafficker and domestic abuser of six years, who is also my children’s father. Most days I wake up feeling completely defeated while trying to save mine and my children’s lives. It is my responsibility as their mother to continue to find a way to provide day-to-day needs and shelter — not just the bare minimum but allowing us to thrive and live as full and happy a life as we deserve. With [Resilience Fund support], I could guarantee food on the table, a warm bed and blankets, and clothes. Please help me and my children gain our independence back and move forward from this nightmare. Nobody should have to choose between living with horrendous abuse or being homeless.”

A vicious cycle is clear: Limited economic resources, housing instability, and homelessness put people at risk for exploitation, and exiting a situation of trafficking can leave survivors without a safe place to live — making them vulnerable to re-trafficking.

Pursuing Promising Programs and Policies

There is no single policy that can fix these interconnected gaps in resources and services. But there are many programs and policies — in the anti-trafficking field and beyond — that can contribute to solving the problem.

At Polaris, our Direct Response efforts help survivors access safe, stable housing. For more than 16 years, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has provided local service referrals for housing, which consistently ranks as one of the top three needs year over year. Meanwhile, Resilience Fund payments are helping survivors cover needed expenses like rent and utilities, while offering community forums and resource navigation to help the survivor community understand their rights, learn about available resources, and develop skills to advocate for themselves and others.

Through Research & Intelligence and Campaigns & Public Engagement, Polaris also advocates for survivor-centered, systems-changing policies like the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act (TSRA) and state criminal record relief. When implemented with care, these policies create pathways for survivors to clear records resulting from their trafficking experience, breaking down a major barrier to obtaining housing after exploitation for criminalized survivors. Other policy and practice priorities include increasing survivor-specific housing resources; emphasizing trauma-informed, survivor-centered service approaches; and ensuring program staff understand survivors’ rights, housing barriers, and protections.

Beyond the anti-trafficking field, housing-specific policy solutions include supporting more affordable, accessible housing and assistance for victims of violence, creating more opportunities for survivors to secure safe housing and avoid re-trafficking. One specific model is Housing First, which prioritizes housing people with voluntary service access but without requirements like getting a job or not using drugs or alcohol. This approach has proven more effective in reducing homelessness and increasing housing stability, including for survivors of domestic violence — a population that often overlaps with human trafficking survivors.

Taking the Next Steps

To fulfill our commitment to walk with survivors on their journeys to freedom, Polaris and our community must advocate to increase survivors’ access to stable, affordable housing. That looks like providing survivors with direct cash assistance through programs like the Resilience Fund or your neighborhood’s mutual aid group. It might look like learning more about housing and homelessness, attending a local council meeting to support affordable housing development, or calling your Members of Congress to ask them to pass criminal record relief laws like the TSRA.

And if you or someone you know is experiencing housing instability or homelessness, here are a few ways you can find help:

• If you or someone you know is experiencing or has experienced human trafficking and is in need of shelter, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline by texting 233733, calling 1-888-37-37-888, or visiting humantraffickinghotline.org.

• For housing and social services referrals that are not related to human trafficking, please dial 2-1-1 to reach your local community-resource center.

• If you are a survivor, you can sign up to receive emails about the Resilience Fund, community forums, and other opportunities.