Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties experienced their first criminal human trafficking cases in the last year – both involving women who were being prostituted. The charges reflect a disturbing statewide trend: Michigan is the second worst state for human trafficking in the U.S. after Nevada.

A local nonprofit is hoping to provide a refuge for victims of trafficking by breaking ground on northern Michigan’s first safe house.

“We will be providing a short-term housing option that offers emergency victim services,” says executive director Linda Solem of TC CAST (Citizens Against Sex Trafficking). “We can provide anywhere from a two-night up to a two-month stay for four girls at a time, to start.”

The exact location of the facility is being protected for the safety of victims who stay on the premises, but is in the five-county area. Solem says a donor gifted the land and building to the group, which is now fundraising to complete a remodel ahead of a planned April 2016 opening. The safe house will be overseen by a hired program manager, counselors and other qualified personnel, as well as trained volunteers. Security measures will be in place to safeguard staff and residents.

Solem hopes the safe house will address a major obstacle in prosecuting human trafficking cases. Victims are often engaged in criminal activities themselves – frequently against their will – and don’t have a safety net once they enter the criminal justice system.

“These girls go to jail for a night, and then they get out and are returned straight to their pimps,” Solem says. “We will be a safe place they can go on the night of their arrest. They will be given an opportunity to come to the safe house, be evaluated by professionals and then placed in a residential or rehabilitative home, or else returned home.”

Grand Traverse County Prosecuting Attorney Bob Cooney agrees the “blurred line” of victims engaged in criminal activity can make it difficult to help individuals escape trafficking situations. “It’s an unusual crime in that a lot of times the criminal is actually the victim, or it appears the victim is engaged in criminal activity,” says Cooney. “Officers on the (Traverse Narcotics Team) will run into situations where it appears trafficking is going on, but we don’t have enough facts to prove it.”

The option of a safe house could help women cooperate with law enforcement and put traffickers behind bars. “Just like we have a Women’s Resource Center to get women and children out of abusive situations, I think there are situations where this is going to be helpful,” Cooney says.

Solem says CAST is “working closely with law enforcement” to make them aware of the safe house’s presence, as well as red flags to look for to identify trafficking victims. Trafficking “looks different here than it does internationally,” says Solem. “It’s connected very closely to drugs in our area. We’ve also become aware we have a number of couch surfers between our two high schools. Traffickers prey on the vulnerable in those situations, giving them promises of a good life and saying they’ll be taken care of.”

Cooney says the region’s trafficking industry may be more extensive than it first appears. “A lot of what we’ve heard anecdotally from TNT and other officers suggests to me that we have more of a problem than what our (criminal) charges would say,” Cooney says. With recent legislative changes in Michigan imposing more severe penalties for trafficking crimes, officers are now zeroing in on signs that might have been overlooked in the past, such as a woman arrested in a drug bust who has bruises or other indicators of physical abuse.

Solem says CAST hopes to not only help victims of trafficking, but prevent victimhood in the first place by raising community awareness of its causes and signs. The group is actively recruiting volunteers and donors, and will host a community benefit concert on January 23 at Milliken Auditorium as a fundraiser for the safe house. “We began as an awareness group,” says Solem. “Now we’re extending into education and action.”