Emergency Shelter for Survivors of Human Trafficking

Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST) proposes to maintain and enhance its existing emergency shelter services provided through the REST Emergency Receiving Center (ERC), which contains a 24x7 crisis hotline, as well as seven private bedrooms to offer safe shelter for female (cisgender or transgender) victims of sex trafficking ages 18 and older. The ERC is a low-barrier shelter operating in King County, Washington, and serves survivors that come from across the region, and occasionally from out of state. This model promotes a safety-first, survivor-centered approach to care, and offers critical crisis intervention, information and referrals support, and emergency shelter services that connect survivors to longer-term care for safety, stability, and independence. Funds will be used to continue to provide this service, in addition to improving outcomes and increasing awareness of the success of this model.

Activities provided through this project include: Housing and shelter assistance through low-barrier emergency shelter services for 180 survivors; Housing advocacy and case management services provided to at least 162 survivors; Personal items and transportation to meet basic needs for 180 survivors; Emotional/moral support for 300 survivors; Information and referral support for 300 survivors annually; Quarterly trainings to increase victim identification and quality referrals for 440 individuals; and Action research and data collection to continue improving the program model and increasing outcomes. The prioritized outcomes for this project are: 1) Increasing average percentage of shelter guests moving into safe and stable housing directly from shelter to 50; and 2) Increasing the percentage of shelter guests who show improvements in housing stability measures in the 12 months after shelter services to 80%.