A house on Eastern Parkway in Louisville that once operated as a brothel has reopened as St. Anne's House, a newly renovated residence offering four independent housing units to survivors of human trafficking. The property can serve four individuals at a time, with residents able to stay for up to a year while they rebuild their lives.
The building sits at 768 Eastern Parkway, adjacent to Our Mother of Sorrows Church, on a property built decades ago by local madam Anna Haines before the church acquired it in 1965, according to Pax Christi Collaborative. Pastor Fr. Philip Erickson originally envisioned turning the property into a transitional home for trafficking survivors, and that vision is now reality under Catholic Charities of Louisville's Bakhita Empowerment Initiative. As Spectrum News reports, the initiative is Catholic Charities' formal response to human trafficking in the region, and it has provided referral case management and long-term case management to residents of the new house.
Kathleen Niestadt, an adviser with the Bakhita Empowerment Initiative who has lived experience of human trafficking, said she was trafficked from ages 9 to 11 and a half. Speaking about the new housing, Niestadt said St. Anne's House will be very beneficial, and she wants survivors to know they have value and can move forward. Amy Nace-Degonda, director of the Bakhita Empowerment Initiative, said the program has provided services to more than 600 people since 2008.
A Renovation Built on Community Donations
Getting the house ready took years of volunteer effort, led by committee chair Dutch Boehnlein. An approved General Electric Community Engagement Grant supplied four refrigerators, four electric ranges, three washers, and two electric dryers, while Lanham Flooring donated 105 boxes of luxury vinyl tile, according to the same Pax Christi Collaborative account. The initiative's name honors St. Josephine Bakhita, a 19th-century Sudanese woman who was kidnapped into slavery as a child before becoming a religious sister and being canonized in 2000 as the patron saint of human trafficking survivors, per The Record.
St. Anne's House connects residents with resources for long-term goals, supporting housing stability at a time when human trafficking occurs in communities every day, according to the same account from Spectrum News. Catholic Charities of Louisville offers opportunities for the public to donate or volunteer in support of the effort.
A Statewide Problem Behind One Local Solution
The opening comes amid broader discussion of human trafficking in Kentucky. The Kentucky State Police's 2023 Crime in Kentucky report, released in July 2024, found that reported human trafficking offenses saw one of the two largest increases among serious crimes statewide, a trend the Commonwealth of Kentucky attributes in part to expanded law enforcement and professional training, even as overall violent crime rates held steady.
Kentucky passed the Human Trafficking Victims' Rights Act in 2013, establishing safe harbor protections meant to shield child sex-trafficking victims from prosecution for prostitution while mandating coordinated state care, according to the National Institute of Justice. A University of Kentucky study cited in that research found the law increased service referrals for exploited youth. Separately, a 2025 Child Welfare League of America report found Kentucky child welfare authorities documented 10 child victims of sex trafficking in 2023 out of 14,484 total child abuse and neglect cases, with runaway and foster youth remaining at elevated risk of commercial sexual exploitation.
Legal Gaps Still Facing Survivors
Federal enforcement has also expanded. Bureau of Justice Statistics data released in January 2026 showed federal referrals for human trafficking offenses reached 2,329 in fiscal year 2023, a 23% increase from 2013, with federal convictions rising to 1,008 nationwide. Even so, structural barriers remain for survivors seeking to rebuild. Legal analysis by the Polaris Project notes that while Kentucky law permits trafficking survivors to clear non-violent criminal records tied to their exploitation, the statute excludes relief for survivors who were forced into violent offenses, though Kentucky law does require permanent record destruction once non-violent relief is granted.
Louisville has long been a focal point for trafficking cases in the state. Municipal figures previously reported by Hoodline show that between 2013 and 2020, Jefferson County recorded 222 child human trafficking incidents out of roughly 1,400 reported statewide. Local authorities continue to prosecute active sex trafficking cases involving minors in the area, including a case Hoodline covered in July involving a Louisville man charged with the rape and trafficking of a 15-year-old, part of a pattern this outlet has also tracked in earlier coverage of a Louisville man extradited on sex trafficking charges. Against that backdrop, St. Anne's House represents one concrete addition to the region's survivor support infrastructure, offering not just shelter but a pathway toward stability for those who have lived through exploitation.
