A local nonprofit geared toward helping women escaping sex trafficking and battling drug addiction has been sued by the Columbus City Attorney’s Office as a “nuisance” property in Franklin County Municipal Court’s Environmental Division.
City Attorney Zach Klein’s Property Action Team filed a lawsuit on April 30 against Sanctuary Night, located at 1195 Sullivant Ave. in the Franklinton area, accusing the nonprofit of attracting criminal activity and allowing prostitution and open drug use.
“Social service organizations are critical to getting vulnerable people back on their feet, but that work needs to be done responsibly,” Klein said in a prepared news release about the lawsuit. Klein’s office is seeking to have the facility declared a public nuisance.
Sanctuary Night, a nonprofit drop-in center that aims to help women who have been human trafficked or have drug addiction or other related problems, is located at 1195 Sullivant Ave. in Columbus.
According to Klein’s office, Columbus police responded to Sanctuary Night more than 230 times between June 2022 and January 2025. The city is arguing that criminal activity began at the facility shortly after it opened in 2022.
According to court filings, neighbors living near the facility began to complain about large groups of people outside of the facility who were openly using drugs and were partially naked. As foot traffic in the immediate area increased, neighbors began reporting thefts of packages that were left on their porches, as well as public urination and defecation in the area.
Neighbors have also reported seeing people engaging in sex work near the facility, which has been corroborated by police surveillance footage, the lawsuit states.
Medics with the Columbus Division of Fire have responded to 40 substance abuse calls there from June 2022 to December 2024, according to the suit.
Britney Dunaway, left, and Faith Sharp, right, both peer support specialists at Sanctuary Night, fold and organize donation clothes in this May 11, 2022, Dispatch file photo. Less than a week later, the nonprofit held a grand opening ceremony for their own drop-in center at 1195 Sullivant Ave. for human trafficking victims and other women in need. For the previous five years, Sanctuary Night operated out of Lower Lights Ministries while the building they purchased in 2020 was being renovated for the center.
In one instance, a Sanctuary Night staff member told a Columbus police officer that the facility allowed on-site drug use in violation of state and city laws, the lawsuit states. According to Klein’s office, a client of Sanctuary Night told a Columbus police officer that the staff at the nonprofit lets clients “do whatever they want” while inside the facility, including drug use.
The Dispatch attempted to contact Hannah Estabrook, executive director of Sanctuary Night, for comment regarding the lawsuit.
“Neighbors are rightly upset by the drugs, overdoses and criminal activity emanating from Sanctuary Night, and I instructed my team to move forward with a lawsuit to hold them accountable, protect public safety and truly benefit the women who are seeking help,” Klein said in the release.
Sanctuary Night, which currently has operating hours Sundays through Fridays and is closed Saturdays, was featured in a March 2022 story by The Dispatch. It is one of multiple “drop-in” centers for women along Sullivant Avenue, a corridor notorious for sex trafficking and prostitution that was the subject of an award-winning series “Suffering on Sullivant” by The Dispatch.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Sanctuary Night, created to help sex trafficking victims, sued by city