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.
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.
