WARNING: This story contains sexually explicit language and details of sexual coercion. It may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
The rental ad on Craigslist offers up one bedroom with “a warm bed available.” But instead of a price tag, it comes with a description of who qualifies to sleep there — a “young petite female” looking to escape the cold.
When a Marketplace journalist, posing as a student in need of housing, responded to the listing and met the man behind it, he revealed the true cost.
“We fool around a little bit here and there,” he said. “If you’re not into actually having sex, that’s cool. We can do other things,” he added, before naming the specific sexual acts he expected in exchange for staying in his home rent-free.
A Marketplace investigation found that ads offering shelter in exchange for sex are not only common on popular rental sites, but they also often target young women and international students specifically. While some ads are explicit about their demands, others are more subtle, putting unsuspecting responders at risk, advocates for women warn.
Soliciting sex for housing is illegal in Canada, but it is also a growing trend, according to Brampton Regional Coun. Rowena Santos, particularly as the housing crisis makes it increasingly difficult to find an affordable place to live.
Santos began drawing attention to the issue last year after a listing that offered free rent in exchange for “a friends-with-benefits” relationship went viral. However, there was some skepticism about the ad’s authenticity. When asked for comment by a local newspaper, the director of Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario said it was likely fake.
“I have a hard time believing it,” Kevin Costain said, adding that anyone from any country could have posted it.
So Marketplace set out to test whether similar offers were real and what happens when someone responds, looking into 20 such ads found on online platforms like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Half of the ads the team found were overtly solicitous, using phrases like “friends with benefits” and “live-in girlfriend,” signalling expectations of sex in exchange for housing. The other half were more covert, hinting at alternative living situations without explicitly mentioning sexual arrangements.
Every inquiry made to the 10 overt ads received a response, with eight responders confirming that they expected sex as payment.
In one case, the person renting their home asked for “a nude picture and age” just for the application.
Another responded saying: “I’m not looking for a girlfriend. Just some fun from time to time when the need arises.”
None of the individuals behind the ads identified themselves, and most refused to provide a phone number, preferring to communicate anonymously through the rental platform.
A CBC Marketplace investigation goes undercover to shed light on the troubling trend of using Canada’s housing crisis to target young women, and even international students, with ‘sex for rent’ offers.
One of the ads Marketplace found
While some ads make clear what’s expected, others use more subtle, deliberately vague language.
The 10 covert ads Marketplace responded to were more nebulous, describing arrangements for “open-minded” young women and students who may be “struggling with housing,” with the listings offering favourable opportunities or acts of support.
Janine Benedet, a lawyer and professor at University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, says young women can unwittingly walk into these situations because the advertiser’s intent is not always obvious.
“Maybe the woman who answers the ad isn’t quite sure what’s being proposed,” she said. “She’s hopeful it might be a genuine offer of accommodation, and then, you know, she’s lured into this arrangement.”
Half of the covert advertisers, once contacted, revealed their true expectations — sex in exchange for housing — with some sending explicit messages after just a few exchanges.
A Craigslist advertiser offering a free room to a “young student struggling with housing” responded to a journalist’s inquiry: “To stay free in my place and just to consider you, you will have to suck my penis.”
Another advertiser — who had been seeking a female looking for “cheap rent or help” — suggested he’d cover school expenses, along with free rent, in return for “ongoing sex” in private messages. He later followed up with a picture of a penis, adding: “I’m experienced and it’s going to feel good.”
Undercover meeting
In one case, an undercover Marketplace journalist met with the Craigslist advertiser behind this listing: “Warm bed available for a young petite female … get out of the cold, come stay warm girl.”
During the meeting he revealed that the bed, which would be shared with him, would come with some “fooling around,” and he proposed intimate acts like oral sex and “finger play” as acceptable forms of payment.
Describing it as a “friends-with-benefits” arrangement, he explained, “I don’t mind helping you out if you’re kind of helping me out, too.”
Benedet calls a dynamic like this an “abuse of power” and rejects claims that such arrangements are harmless if both parties agree.
“[When] your continued ability to live in that accommodation is premised on you providing sexual services, then that is predatory — and I think the guys who are posting these ads know that,” Benedet said.
The Marketplace team followed up with two of the advertisers behind covert listings: the man we met on a hidden camera and the other who had sent an explicit photo.
When asked why he attached such conditions to his housing offer, the first lister claimed he liked to “help people out” before abruptly hanging up. He later ignored a followup email.
The second advertiser apologized in a statement, writing he had “no idea” his actions were illegal and believed it was harmless “as long as it was consensual between adults.” He took down the ad, promised never to post another and admitted he had been “foolish.”
Imbalance of power
Santos says sex for rent situations can put vulnerable young women at risk of being coerced into sex trafficking. She said the fear of eviction — or, in the case of international students, deportation — keeps many silent.
“That is one of the biggest challenges we have, particularly for international student girls, because of the related fear of being deported,” she said. “They’re scared to live out on the streets, and they have no family and no support system. They have no other options.”
A power imbalance can be leveraged even in a case where a tenant is paying their rent in accordance with a traditional lease; Marketplace heard from Mya, who said she was threatened with eviction when she refused her landlord’s sexual advances.
A student in 2017, Mya, whose identity Marketplace is protecting because she fears reprisal from her former landlord, said she felt trapped after the man threatened to kick her out of her Toronto apartment, raise her rent and cut off utilities when she turned down his predatory requests. She said her landlord lived on the floor below her, and she believes he was preying on her financial weakness because he knew she was a female student living alone.
“In the grand scheme of things, I was a pretty vulnerable person in that sense,” she said.
Although Mya ultimately moved out with the help of her family, dropping out of school to escape the situation, she said the trauma lingers.
“To this day, when someone knocks on my door, I hide,” she said, adding that she’s thankful she had the support of her parents to help her get out of the situation.
Benedet says that robust support is critical for women who end up in sex-for-rent arrangements, “so they don’t have to wait one more night to find a safe, clean, affordable place to live, and to make sure that their status in Canada is sufficiently secure so that they can continue to study and work without being prey to this kind of activity.”
Santos has worked to support young women in her municipality through an international students charter, which offers certain protections for international students, and a residential rental licensing pilot program launched last year to better vet landlords. She also introduced a motion to fight the human trafficking of international students in Brampton, Ont., which city council passed late last year. Now, she’s calling on platforms like Facebook and Craigslist to step up.
She hopes to see a more monitored and rigorous reporting system of these types of ads implemented by the platforms.
Marketplace reached out to both Facebook and Craigslist for comment. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, stated that such ads violate its policies and encouraged users to report them. Craigslist did not respond.
After Marketplace shared its findings with SOLO, the organization condemned sex for rent ads calling them “immoral, unethical and probably criminal.” The organization urged prospective tenants to remain cautious in the tight rental market, avoid listings that seem too good to be true and be vigilant for signs of abuse or fraud.
The organization urged prospective tenants to remain cautious in the tight rental market, avoid listings that seem too good to be true and be vigilant for signs of abuse or fraud. The statement also said that anyone facing coercion or threats from predatory landlords should report it to local authorities — and called on law enforcement to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
Benedet believes a police crackdown is necessary to expose those behind these listings.
“It’s as simple as sending an undercover officer to respond to these ads,” she said. “We know that the single biggest deterrent to this kind of behaviour is enforcement — it’s the threat of publicity and real consequences.”
How to protect yourself
Marketplace also reached out to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP). In a statement, it called the practice a “form of internet luring involving potential prostitution and human-trafficking situations.”
“Anyone who offers sex for rent is guilty of an offence and, as such, subject to prosecution,” the CACP statement read. “We … take a strong position against exploitation in any form.”
The association urged victims and witnesses to come forward, stating that when police become aware of sex-for-rent schemes, they have a duty to fully investigate, protect victims and apprehend offenders.
“Those responsible for the exploitation, predation, coercion and trafficking that are associated with the sex trade and the resulting individual and community harms must be brought to justice.”
Advocates from the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter and the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic advise women to learn about their rights as tenants, document all communications and seek legal aid or independent legal advice if they experience coercion.
They also recommend reaching out to women’s helplines or calling 911 in emergencies.
Mya hopes that empowering women trapped in dangerous housing situations will help them to speak up and drive real change.
“They’re not alone,” she said. “If we all speak up together, maybe we can make a difference.”
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
