A statement issued by housing and homeless charity Shelter has warned of the ‘vile exploitation’ of ‘free rent to sex’ ads that are appearing on classified ads website Craigslist.
According to Shelter, hundreds of adverts have been appearing in the room-to-let section offering free housing to women in return for sex, particularly calling upon homeless women because of their vulnerability.
As they point out, these men are targeting women in precarious personal situations who feel they have exhausted all other options and may have even experience sexual or domestic violence in the past. At the time of writing on 12th August, Shelter had come across 288 adverts offering free accommodation and a further 51 offering accommodation for under £10 a month.
Homeless Females ? Free Rent House Share (Hillingdon)
'As the ad states if there is any Homeless Single stunning Females who are out there seeking to save or seeking to be re-housed by a friendly genuine white britisg guy then look no further I offer a Genuine offer to any young single hot sexy female of any nationality or culture to house share with me free rent free food drinks etc and usage of all facilities if this is you and you are a female seeking desprately then get back to myself with a pic of your self for mine in return with more details as well contact details too ,…… [sic]
Regards xxx'
The huge danger here is that already vulnerable women could be coerced into entering situations in which they will relinquish all control and feel they will never be able to say no out of sheer desperation.
According to Crisis, the charity for single homeless people, government statistics show that, on average, 3,569 people sleep rough on any one night in England, which is double the number recorded in 2010. As well as this, local agencies reported that 8,096 people slept rough in London alone throughout 2015/2016 which is a six percent rise of the year before and more than double 2009/2010.
It's also known that homelessness is particularly dangerous for women with 28% having formed an unwanted sexual paternship and 20% engaging in sex work in return for shelter.
The difficulty in knowing exact figures of homelessness in the UK is that there are differences in recording homelessness and many homeless people are not represented in official statistics.
Adverts are also targetting women in general who may not be able to afford housing, such as students.
Free accommodation for female student (London)
'If any young female student is in need of free of charge accommodation & is prepared to act as a ‘resource’ in return, then please provide full personal details & a recent pic & reply from your own private e-mail address please. No pic, no reply.
Thank you.'
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.