The Department on the Status of Women proudly serves as the lead agency for the Mayor’s Taskforce on Anti-Human Trafficking. The taskforce was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and reinstated in 2021 by the Department though a series of meetings and discussions that brought diverse stakeholders in the anti-trafficking space together to help shape how the Taskforce could have the greatest and most meaningful impact.
In 2023, the Department updated the Human Trafficking in San Francisco Report with data from 2020 and 2021, and released a follow up report in December 2024 which included data from 2022 and 2023. The reports include cross-agency analysis of trends in human trafficking as well as recommendations to reduce and eliminate trafficking in San Francisco.
Key report findings include:
- Increased financial investments in anti-trafficking and survivor-centered organizations has yielded improvements in reporting, delineating between labor trafficking and sex trafficking and an increase in the number of service providers and the capacity of service providers.
- For 2022-2023, there were a total of 2,501 reported cases of human trafficking in San Francisco. As case reporting is confidential, it is expected that some individuals may be reported by multiple agencies.
- In cases where the age of a survivor or victim was known in 2022-2023, 62% of individuals were over 25; 28% were between 18 and 24 and 10% were under 18 years of age.
- For 2022-2023, 88% of all reported cases were people of color. African Americans comprised the largest block of trafficked individuals, making up 57% of all cases. Hispanic/Latinx individuals were 18% of all cases, White individuals were 12% of all cases, and Asian/Pacific Islanders were 8% of all cases.
- For 2022-2023, 54% of all cases were women, with 2% of those individuals identifying as transgender women. Men comprised 43% of all cases, with .02% identifying as transgender men, and 2% did not identify as male or female.
- From 2022-2023, the San Francisco Police Department opened 44 investigations into human trafficking. Four resulted in arrests and one resulted in charges against an alleged trafficker.
- Education programs aimed at preventing youth from being exploited are included in the California education code in middle and high school. However, teacher shortages and reassignments have stalled district wide curricula implementation.
- Both the 2021 and 2022-2023 reports cited a need to increase services for individuals under the age of 25. Both reports also noted an urgent need for more housing for victims and survivors, as well as housing for transitional-age youth.
Key recommendations from the 2022-2023 report:
- The Department strongly recommends implementing the set of recommendations from the Board of Supervisors Budget and Legislative Analyst's (BLA) October 2024 anti-human trafficking report. The BLA report includes a series of recommendations for the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), San Francisco District Attorney's Office, Office of Victim and Witness Rights (OVWR), the San Francisco Department of Public Health and other City & County agencies.
- City and County agencies should collaborate to address the potential duplication of data included in the report.
- More investments needs to be made in housing and financial supports for victims and survivors of human trafficking. Specialized resources are often needed to address medical, legal, housing and other needs of survivors. Providers have scaled up their services in response to increased need, but demand continues to out pace available services.
You can find archived Taskforce information from 2019 and earlier here.
In addition to its role with the Mayor’s Taskforce, the Department also leads a large coalition of organizations to address the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in San Francisco. In December of 2022, DOSW concluded the first iteration of the San Francisco SOL (Safety, Opportunities and Lifelong Relationships) Collaborative, which was originally funded in 2019 through a $9.3M grant from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS).
Because of the initiative’s success, CDSS awarded the Department another $7M grant beginning in January of 2023 to continue the project for another three years, including the addition of new innovations around housing for youth currently being trafficked.