In Section 606 of the Violence Against Women Act of 2022, Congress directed HUD to conduct a study assessing the availability and accessibility of housing and services for individuals experiencing homelessness or housing instability and who are survivors of trafficking or at risk of being trafficked. Congress set out a specific set of themes for the research team to examine:

• Approaches to outreach and engagement with survivors, and methods of assessing their needs;
• Availability of homelessness and housing services;
• Policies and procedures that impact access to mainstream housing and services;
• Barriers to fair housing; and
• Best practices in housing and service delivery.

This report reflects research conducted by staff from HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research with support from HUD's Director for Gender-based Violence Prevention and Equity in the Office of the Secretary. The study consisted of a literature review and listening sessions with a wide range of stakeholders including: partners in state and local government; Public Housing Agencies; Continuums of Care; direct service providers working in the housing, homelessness, victims services, and trafficking fields; and people with lived experience of sex and labor trafficking. In addition to extensive consultation with these external stakeholders, the study team actively coordinated with program offices across HUD and partners from the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, Interagency Human Trafficking Housing Working Group, the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, White House Gender Policy Council, and a range of other stakeholder offices at the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services.