Advocate speaks to misinformation about sex work in Seattle

SEATTLE - The City of Seattle is making efforts to minimize the amount of sex work happening on Aurora Avenue. But is that enough to solve the chronic issue of sex trafficking in Seattle? Or, does it just move the problem elsewhere?

On Thursday, there were noticeably fewer women working on the streets in notorious hot-spot areas. 

According to a local advocacy organization, the reality for women trying to leave the world of sex trade is much out of their control.

"People don't know," said Elizabeth Dahl Helendi, the executive director of Aurora Commons in Seattle. "They don't know where these women came from, they don't understand the challenges that they face before they even entered the life. A lot of women have come from horrible family upbringings where they found it's better for them on the streets than where they grew up."

Aurora Commons is a community resource for people looking for a safe and judgment-free place to find help. She said the bigger issue Seattle has on its plate is not convincing women to leave a life of sex work -- it's finding them a place to go once they want to walk away.

"You can hear skewed information of people saying like, ‘there was a sweep and only half of them wanted housing,’" Helendi said. "We deal with about 20 to 30 people per day coming into Aurora Commons, asking for support with housing."

That is hundreds of people each month and thousands of people each year they want to help, but can't, all because there isn't enough shelter space.

"We all see what's happening on Aurora… you'd think that an organization that's been here for ten years, we can go out there and say if anyone needs help, we can get you off the street right away," Helendi said. "It's not true."

Helendi said women sometimes have to wait up to a month for a place to stay because there is simply not enough emergency shelter for them to go to.

"At that point, if they're actually fleeing violence -- if they're actually fleeing someone they're scared of, that's too long," Helendi said.

Helendi told FOX 13 that if the community in Seattle wants to make a difference, people have to be honest about what's really happening on Aurora.

"There is so much complex trauma that happens when you're trafficked," Helendi said. "It's really difficult for women to get out of it once they're into that cycle of trauma and abuse."

Helendi said until the city creates an emergency receiving center in north Seattle for women working on Aurora who decide to leave the sex trade, the cycle won't end.