I'm so sorry to hear that this happened to you, Holly, but glad you're safe. I've lived in Berlin for the past few years, where the housing situation is an utter nightmare, and it seems like every year there are more and more predators offering apartments in exchange for sex. Also — sad to say — Airbnb rentals have only made the situation worse, since they've contributed to price hikes and thus exacerbated the attendant desperation with respect to housing.

Without even getting into the hidden costs that women end up paying for things like the fact that fewer neighborhoods and fewer units are as safe for women as they are for men (and therefore there are fewer "affordable" options for women in the first place), it's naturally women who suffer disproportionately in these kinds of markets.

Basically, the misogynist, exploitative shitshow that is the housing market is one of my biggest frustrations about being single, to be honest.