Municipalities divided over sex work from home

The Dutch municipalities are very much divided on new legislation that will make sex work from home possible with a permit. Dozens of cities are vehemently against allowing sex workers to work from home. Others fear that the permit requirement will be counter-productive, NOS reports after it and the regional broadcasters surveyed over 150 municipalities.

The Dutch government has been working on the Sex Work Regulation Act for 15 years. In principle, it allows sex workers to work from home like beauticians and hairdressers can. The sex workers have to apply for a permit and adhere to several requirements, including an age limit of 21 years. Municipalities will have to interview sex workers applying for a permit to determine that they are not being coerced or exploited and are over the age of 21. The bill was declared controversial after the fall of the Rutte IV Cabinet, so it is on hold until a new Cabinet takes office.

Sex workers themselves are against the law, particularly the mandatory permit. Not everyone wants their job registered with the municipality. Sex workers also worry that their customers will be criminalized if they don’t have the correct papers.

Sex work is a legal profession, but many municipalities currently don’t allow it from home. They cite concerns about nuisance in residential neighborhoods and having insufficient insight into sex workers’ safety as the reasons. These municipalities are also against the new law.

“If sex work takes place in the private sphere, it is difficult to gain insight into possible abuses,” the municipality of Kaag en Braassem (Zuid-Holland) told the broadcasters. Beverwijk predicts declining quality of life and sense of safety in neighborhoods. Dalfsen thinks it will be too challenging to monitor sex workers’ working conditions at home. Almelo is worried about unintentionally contributing to situations in which sex workers are under pressure.

Dozens of other municipalities have no problem with allowing sex workers to work from home. Many already do so, including Rotterdam, Tilburg, Hilversum, and Utrecht. There are conditions, including that sex workers must live at the address, work entirely independently, are not allowed to advertise too flashily, and can’t have a noticeable flow of customers.

Deventer told the broadcasters that it wants to keep up with the times. Traditional brothels are increasingly making way for sex workers who meet customers online and receive them at home. That requires new regulations, the municipality said. Enschede isn’t against sex work from home, but won’t allow it in flats or near schools and will limit the number per neighborhood. Lingewaard won’t permit sex work from rental properties.

The municipalities are also divided on the permit obligation, intended to prevent unwanted situations. Proponents expect the permit will give more insight into a vulnerable sector and help the authorities combat exploitation. Opponents expect more sex workers will work illegally because they don’t want to register their profession with the municipality, putting them in a more vulnerable position - a permit-less sex worker is less likely to report abuses because it could get her in trouble too.

“It is an illusion that sex workers who are confronted with abuses apply for a permit,” the municipality of Hilversum, which already allows some sex work from home, told the broadcasters. Tilburg added that the authorities can tackle abuses without a permit. Doentinchem said: “If sex workers without a permit fall victim to intimidation, extortion, coercion, or violence, it will always remain under the radar because they themselves are punishable.”