PARKER, Colo. — A new home specifically for human trafficking survivors will soon open as advocates try to sound the alarm that there's not nearly enough safe housing for survivors in Colorado.
"They say that the grass is greener on the other side and when I think back to before I began my healing journey, I didn't even know there was grass on the other side," said Amanda Jordan, a survivor of human trafficking.
She said she was in her early 20s when she met a man who eventually would have ownership over her for eight years. She knows taking that first step to leave is incredibly difficult and oftentimes dangerous.
"Most survivors, when they exit a trafficking situation, part of the coercive control that they were under is: threat to loved ones and threats to themselves. So going to a known place would be dangerous," she said.
That's why advocates say safe housing for trafficking survivors is so important. It's also rare.
Covered Colorado said while working with the Denver Police Department, it was indicated that there were 75 cases of human trafficking in Denver County in 2024.
"We have about 16 beds in Colorado. We don't have enough beds in Colorado just to take care of the cases in Denver County. Denver is not even the top county for trafficking in Colorado," said Johanna Spille, founder of Covered Colorado, an advocacy group for survivors.
Spille said the need for safe homes is urgent.
"Eighty percent of survivors, if they don't have safe housing, will end up back in trafficking situations," she said.
Covered Colorado was recently approved to open a new safe home for up to eight survivors in the Centennial area.
"We are opening the first week in March. We've already got people on a waitlist and so we will be bringing people in that very first day that we're open," Spille said.
The location of the homes themselves are kept a secret, but Covered Colorado is there to make the connection for survivors.
"This isn't necessarily the type of thing where you can just heal from alone. It goes much smoother when you have a community of providers that understand that particular trauma," said Jordan.
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