Elli’s House is a 501(c)3 nonprofit serving homeless & runaway women involved in human trafficking in the city of Detroit. Our mission is to abolish sex trafficking in the city of Detroit through building relationships, offering safe shelter, and providing education.
Human trafficking is the business of stealing freedom for profit. In some cases, traffickers trick, defraud or physically force victims into providing commercial sex. In others, victims are lied to, assaulted, threatened or manipulated into working under inhumane, illegal or otherwise unacceptable conditions. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 24.9 million people around the world.
Elli’s House was founded in 2017 by Deb Ellinger, a native Detroiter. While working with teen girls who were consistently running away from home, there was a clear need for a shelter in the city. Out of this need, Deb began Elli’s House. What began as an attempt to fill a need, has grown into a full non-profit organization. Today, they have a two-year residential shelter program, a middle school mentoring program, and provide food, hygiene, and clothing to survivors weekly through street outreach.