By Associated Press - Saturday, December 17, 2016

PHOENIX (AP) - In what is believed to be the first project of its kind, Phoenix is buying an apartment complex that will house and provide services to survivors of human and sex trafficking.

The city received $2.4 million in federal grant money for the 15-unit complex, reported the Arizona Republic (https://bit.ly/2hcNOJx).

Phoenix is setting aside 15 of its highly sought housing vouchers for survivors to partially cover rent.

A waiting list for the city’s vouchers contains thousands of applicants.

The supportive housing facility is not an emergency shelter.

Arizona State University will contribute to developing on-site services intended to help residents become independent.

Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, who directs the university’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, says the complex will provide more than just housing.

“It’s not just giving them a bed to sleep in that’s safe,” Roe-Sepowitz said. “It’s creating an environment of growth, an environment that propels them out of that life and not back into that life.”

Phoenix Starfish Place is named in reference to a story about a child who throws individual sea stars back into the ocean even though thousands of others that wash up on the beach cannot all be saved.

Roe-Sepowitz has said services can help ensure survivors “don’t get washed up again.”

People could move in as early as July.

The project will “put Phoenix on the map, in a good way,” Vice Mayor Kate Gallego said before city councilmembers approved plans in a unanimous December vote.

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Information from: The Arizona Republic, https://www.azcentral.com

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