Future of sex work in Utrecht
After, among other things, the window prostitution on the Zandpad and the streetwalking zone on the Europalaan, there are almost no legal sex workplaces left in Utrecht. When a new start of the Zandpad failed to materialize last year, the municipality asked the Sorgdrager committee for advice.
Following the advice, the council is now making two proposals to the city council.
First of all, it must be possible to work from home legally. However, three requirements must be met:
– The sex worker must be registered at the home address
– The earnings may only benefit the sex worker
– No advertising may be made on the outside, nor may it be visible that sex work is taking place
In addition, there must also be small-scale locations at two locations where a maximum of fifteen sex workers can rent space. The municipality will not look for the locations itself, but promises to help with contact with the neighborhood, among other things.
The municipality refers to this as two so-called ‘experimental grounds’. If after three years it turns out that everything is going well, both plans must become permanent. Because regulations have to be changed, working from home will not be possible until the first half of 2024 at the earliest.