Another story about refugees living in deplorable
housing, this time in San Antonio, Texas, by Ann Corcoran 7/2/18.
The charity’s “model of resettlement has not really changed for 20, 30 years. They still basically do what they’re required to do, but they don’t do any more.”
The charity’s “model of resettlement has not really changed for 20, 30 years. They still basically do what they’re required to do, but they don’t do any more.”
While they have found safety in the Alamo City, Alshokri and other refugees contend with grim living conditions and inattentive landlords at Auburn Creek and other apartment complexes, according to interviews with more than 15 refugees and nonprofit advocates who work with them.
“This is not a house. It is a prison,” Alshokri said through an interpreter.
The federal government partners with local
agencies to find “safe and affordable housing” and help them become
self-sufficient. Here we go! It is Donald Trump’s fault!
He isn’t sending CC enough moola!
And,
this time rather than the International
Rescue Committee getting
the blame (as they did in California), it is Catholic Charities of the
Archdiocese of San Antonio.
Catholic
refugee agency worker:
Jose Antonio Fernandez, CEO of Catholic
Charities San Antonio says the agency received $7.5 million in 2016 from the federal government to help
1,900 refugees. What! Over $3,900 for every man woman and child!
Sounds
like they are taking in more refugees than they can adequately provide for!!!
Not
enough decent housing that is also cheap they wail. But, I have noticed
over the years that the answer is never that there might be too many refugees
entering the US!
And, with rich agencies like Catholic Charities, maybe they could
pony-up with some of their own private Christian-charity dollars rather than
depending on the US taxpayer to supply them with more!
As
I reported here, just yesterday, Texas is the number one
refugee-welcoming state in the nation right now! Sounds like Texas, and its stable of
‘charities’, are ‘welcoming’ more refugees than they can adequately provide
for!!!
From San Antonio Express: Refugees flee war-torn homelands for
deteriorating apartment complexes in S.A.
The
story begins with the usual sympathetic refugee (but be sure to read the whole
article, Mohammad may not be the best choice as their poster child).
Mohammad
Alshokri came to San Antonio as a refugee from the regime of Syrian dictator
Bashar al-Assad, whose security forces beat him so severely that both his legs
were amputated above the knee. But he has not yet found his happy ending in the
Alamo City.
Shortly
after his plane landed in April of last year, Alshokri arrived at his new home
of Auburn Creek, a 40-year-old apartment complex that is the subject of a long
list of city code complaints.
Alshokri’s
first year in the U.S. was a stressful one, he said, as he tried and failed to
get the complex’s management to fix a broken doorknob, a leaky ceiling and a
malfunctioning air conditioner. The complex served him with several eviction
notices while he struggled to build a life in a city 7,000 miles from his
native country.
Alshokri points to spot on kitchen
ceiling where a leak had occurred. Looks like a pretty nice apartment to
me! Photo: San Antonio Express
They
complain of leaky plumbing, broken appliances, collapsing ceilings, rat and
rodent infestations, and faulty air conditioning that can turn their homes into
saunas during San Antonio’s brutal summers.
Many
refugees are placed in the Medical Center area on the Northwest Side through a
program that local
nonprofit Catholic Charities runs on behalf of the federal government.
Refugees have a high risk of ending up in substandard housing because
they often don’t speak English, have little formal education and are
particularly fearful of challenging authority given their experience in their
homelands, charity workers said.
Perhaps, but they don’t pick their apartments, that is what we, the
taxpayers, pay Catholic Charities to do.
The
refugees frequently have no choice but to live in rundown apartments because
few complexes will accept a tenant with no credit, rental history or Social Security
number, refugees and advocates said. Some of them can’t read rental contracts,
are unfamiliar with their rights as tenants or are afraid to pursue cases
against landlords out of fear that they could be thrown out or have their
credit damaged, they said.
In
San Antonio, that agency is Catholic Charities, the charitable arm of the
Archdiocese of San Antonio. The charity settles refugees in seven or eight
local complexes, many of them in the Medical Center area, President and CEO
J. Antonio Fernandez said in
an interview. In 2016, it received $7.5 million from the federal government to
help 1,900 refugees.
The
charity has trouble finding landlords who are willing to take in refugees,
Fernandez said.
The charity has contracts with owners of apartment complexes who
agree to take in refugees at discounted rates, Fernandez said. It tries to place the refugees
near family members or others from the same communities.
Along
with providing furniture, Catholic Charities pays the refugees’ rent for six
months, Fernandez said. [Six
months? More like three!—-ed]. A worker with the charity acts as a
guide for each family, helping them find jobs and navigate social services.
[Navigate social services is code for sign them up for welfare—ed].
Before
the family moves in, a worker inspects their apartment for mold, frayed wires,
peeling paint, smoke detectors and other problems, according to Catholic
Charities. Workers are supposed to visit each apartment within 24 hours of the
family’s arrival, and again within a month, to check on its members’
well-being.
Some
refugees said they were thankful for the help. But others, and some volunteers who work with
them, criticized the charity for placing people in shabby complexes and for
overloading their case workers, making it difficult for them to devote much
attention to each family.
“Catholic
Charities does the best they can do with the resources they have,” said
Margaret Costantino, director of CRS, pointing out that the Trump administration has cut federal
funding for resettlement.
The charity’s “model of resettlement has not really changed for 20, 30
years. They still basically do what they’re required to do, but they don’t
do any more.”
Fernandez
defended the case workers. The charity has started inspecting apartments more
often and doing more to educate refugees, Fernandez said. More here.
Time
to reform the whole damn program and the answer is NOT to send ‘Religious
Charities’ more of our tax dollars!
Let the good Catholics support the refugees entirely!
A
reader recently sent us this news story about
a new study by Catholic Charities and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops
about how economically well their refugees are doing.
So
here is what the reader suggested—if the refugees do so well, maybe Catholic
Charities and the Bishops could loan the refugees all the money they need to get started on life in
America knowing they will be repaid later as the refugees succeed.
One
last thing. It was Syrians complaining about substandard housing in New
Jersey recently, see here.
Just saying!
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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