Dutch cities are divided over whether sex workers should be allowed to work from home.
While sex work has been legal in the Netherlands since 2000, a limited number of regions have allowed sex workers to operate independently of their home.
Proposed legislation could change that, as the government seeks to regulate the sector to reflect the rise in working from home and online.
That would mean sex workers would have to meet strict conditions to obtain a permit from their local authority.
But several regions are unhappy with the prospect of working from home in the sector.
Nos, the largest news organization in the Netherlands, surveyed 150 municipalities and found that many believed it would be a “nuisance” to local residents.
Beverwijk, a town about 19 kilometers northwest of Amsterdam, told Nos that it predicted the quality of life and sense of safety in the neighborhood would deteriorate with a rule change.
Moerdijk, in the south of the Netherlands, argued that it would cause traffic congestion, disturbances in the streets and that “people in the area would feel less safe,” Dutch News reported.
Some locations expressed concerns about the safety of sex workers and the difficulty in monitoring home work environments.
“If sex work is carried out in the private sphere, it is difficult to know about possible abuses,” he told Nos.
But some areas opposed the idea of licensing, arguing it could fuel the underground exploitation of sex workers.
The city of Tilburg told Nos: “Unlicensed sex workers actually become more vulnerable to coercion, violence and blackmail.”
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But an increasing number of areas allow working from home, including Rotterdam, Tilburg, Hilversum and Utrecht.
There are conditions including that the sex worker must live at the address and work completely independently.
In Enschede, sex workers are not allowed to work in flats or near schools, while Lingewaard allows working from home, but not in rental properties.
Many municipalities told Nos they had not yet decided whether they support the proposed national standards.
Plans have been on hold since then. of the collapse of Mark Rutte’s coalition government last July and no date has been set for the law to be presented to parliament, Dutch News reported.