[Sexworkersandfriends..potluck..] Sex work in subsidized housing raises questions

[Andy Sorfleet]

VANCOUVER SUN
Friday, May 11, 2012

Tara Carman & Jonathan Fowlie




Sex work in subsidized housing raises questions

Cabinet minister Rich Coleman says he won't 'throw anybody under the
bus' over prostitution

Subsidized housing residences that turn a blind eye to sex workers who
bring clients to their rooms could be breaking Canada's law against
brothels if management is aware such activity is occurring regularly,
according to the Pivot Legal Society.

"If someone in the space, whether it's the people who are living there
or the people who are operating the space, know that prostitution is
occurring there regularly, then they could be found to be guilty of
being found in or keeping a common bawdy house," said Katrina Pacey,
Pivot's litigation director. "So the question is who's aware of what's
going on at any given time and so that's where the ... legal questions
lie."

Residents of two Downtown Eastside women-only buildings run by
non-profit societies and subsidized through BC Housing were
interviewed by Vancouver researchers for a study, published Wednesday,
which found that indoor sex work is much safer than women working on
the street.

The buildings are women-only, including residents and staff, and have
for 10 years offered supportive guest policies that allow women to
conduct sex work in their rooms. Clients are required to sign in at
the front desk and the buildings have 24-hour staff available to call
police if there is violence, as well as on-site security cameras.

Tenants of supportive housing complexes for low-income women are
entitled to the same rights as any other renter in the city, even if
they are sex workers who bring clients to the residence, said Janice
Abbott, CEO of the Atira Women's Resource Society, home to some of the
women who were interviewed for the study.

Abbott said that when Atira opened the Bridge Housing residence --
which offers 36 units of long-term, supportive housing for women -- in
2001, there was no conscious decision to create a safe, indoor space
for women to do sex work.

When the situation arose, Atira staff decided not to question male
guests about their business with the tenants, Abbott said.

Other tenants of the building are vulnerable women who do sex work
some of the time, so there have been no complaints from them about the
practice, she added.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman, who carries responsibility for housing,
said Thursday he has not yet taken a stance on the issue.

"This is a really tough issue. We're dealing with an inquiry of sex
trade workers that were murdered by a serial killer, and that's one of
the areas where serial killers prey on people, particularly in this
cohort of folks. These women come from backgrounds of sexual abuse and
drugs and alcohol and they're on the streets not by choice. Our
housing is trying to break down those barriers to give them a chance
to change their lives," he said.

"I've seen friends lose their children to drugs and alcohol and
prostitution and if there's a chance to turn those children's lives
around, I would have wanted it for them.... We ask our providers to
obey the law, but at the same time, the rooms are their rooms, they're
like their home.

"I just don't have the answer. The actual act is not illegal, it's the
solicitation," he added. "It's a tough one and

I'm not prepared to throw anybody under the bus on this one."

New Democratic Party housing critic Shane Simpson said he thinks
safety needs to be the paramount concern.

"While I think it's an uncomfortable situation, from a safety point of
view it's probably something we have to accept and look at better ways
to deal with it in the future," he said.

"You don't want to adopt it as policy and you don't want to create a
situation where that kind of activity could ... occur in other
developments," he added. "But this is a unique community, it's a
unique circumstance with these women and we probably need to accept
that and move forward."

Abbott's safety-first considerations were echoed by Leslie Remund of
RainCity Housing, which also offers subsidized rooms to chronically
home-less women.

"Women ... have their own key to their space and like any other
apartment building ... in Vancouver or the Lower Mainland, what
happens behind the door is their business," she said. "Could this be
challenged? Potentially. But when we talk about women's safety,
especially women in the Downtown Eastside, we've been willing to take
that risk." Prostitution is legal in Canada, but related activities
such as operating brothels, living off the avails of prostitution and
communicating for the purposes of prostitution are not.

Any communication with clients, however, happens outside the facility
and support staff don't see any money changing hands.

"We don't interrogate the guests -- what's the nature of your visit,
what's your relationship with our tenant. In fact, under the
[Residential Tenancy Act] we're not allowed ... to monitor guests,"
Abbott said.

Pivot's Pacy noted that the Ontario Court of Appeal recently ruled
that Canada's law prohibiting brothels is unconstitutional on the
basis that it places unreasonable restrictions on sex workers' ability
to protect them-selves. That case is headed for the Supreme Court of
Canada, which will decide the issue for the entire country. Should the
police choose to bring charges against tenants or management of
housing complexes in Vancouver, they would likely have a
constitutional challenge on their hands, she said.

Last March, Vancouver police issued new sex worker enforcement
guide-lines encouraging officers to treat sex trade workers with
dignity and respect in order to build relationships and increase the
safety and protection of vulnerable women working the streets.

Enforcing the law that prohibits soliciting should be used as a last
resort, the guidelines said about the police response to
nuisance-related complaints against survival sex workers.


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