Here’s a story from The NY Times that’s very relevant to our situation here in Honolulu (“The New Brothels: How Shady Landlords Play a Key Role in the Sex Trade”).

It describes how prostitution is moving from the streets into apartments and condominiums where it is much harder for law enforcement to shut down the businesses.

In New York, gentrification has pushed prostitution indoors. Street walkers have all but disappeared. Prostitutes now advertise online, sex dates are arranged over the phone and brothels operate inside apartments in residential neighborhoods.

As a result, landlords play an important role in the sex trade….

But landlords are rarely charged with a crime, he said, because the police often don’t have enough evidence to show they are complicit, which results in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole; the police shut down brothels and massage parlors, only to see another open in the same place or nearby.

That’s exactly the situation we faced during the years I spent on the board of a condominium on the edge of Waikiki, including a couple of terms as president.

The apartments where sex was for sale were obvious, as different men were seen coming in and out at all hours, much to the dismay of residents of nearby apartments. The board tried different approaches. We kept open communications with law enforcement agencies, but while they often took action, it took a long time to complete an investigation that would lead to successful busts. In the meantime, the demand for services was just too far ahead of any enforcement efforts.

The board also tried hiring an attorney to go after the owners of units where prostitution arrests were made. Some of these efforts were successful, but others disappeared into the depths of the court system, where legal delays are both inevitable and expensive. Eventually, this strategy couldn’t be sustained.

We found that there was a network of individuals and companies, often involving family members or longtime business associates, who passed ownership of condominium apartments from one to the other, trying to stay ahead of foreclosures and other legal actions. I’m sure that there are other buildings that are facing similar problems.

Just as the case described in the Times story, many landlords find the money too tempting to turn down. And the profits from these enterprises, often cloaked as “massage” or “relaxation” businesses, were increasingly reinvested by buying the apartments. This way, there wouldn’t be any worries about the landlord might say about the activities going on in the condominium.

It’s going to be interesting when someone finally gets around to mapping where prostitution businesses operate and who owns those properties.