Refugee Resettlement is not a well-funded endeavor.
Even when the economy was roaring along, resettlement offices really couldn't afford to hire all the staff they needed. We tend to work long hours for modest pay, and we always have paperwork and appointments backing up on our desks. With the job market like it is right now, the vast majority of refugees coming in cannot find work, and the financial burden of paying their rent is falling even heavier than before. Whereas in years past we might pay their rent for 3 or 4 months, now we are routinely paying rents for 6, 7, and 8 months.
Obviously, we can't afford to do this. For the past 6 months our budget kept contracting. We hoped we could locate jobs for people, but we've now hit a brick wall. We haven't found enough jobs, and the coffers are empty. So we're now applying as many people as we can for a public housing community about 2 miles from their current apartment complex.
Applying for public housing is by far the most bureaucratic and paperwork-intensive process I've ever experienced. It's easier to get people their green card than it is to get them into public housing. There can't be any stray marks on the application, nor can there be any white-out. You have to use the same color ink throughout. The application is 14 pages long. It's really quite ridiculous.
Anyway, after taking about seven families in, I've gotten pretty good at handling these applications. I know exactly how to fill out everything to make sure it goes through fine the first time, and I know exactly what the refugees need to bring to make the whole process run smoothly. So today I took in a Burmese family. They spoke very little English, so I had another person translate for me, explaining that this new house would be free, and that because no one is working in their family, they cannot stay much longer in their current apartment. They understood and agreed to come with me (all adults on the application must be physically present when you submit the application). I asked, at least 3 times: "You have your EAD (a federally-issued photo ID), Social Security Card, and your I-94 (the document that all refugees get when they enter the US that is their proof of legal residence), right?" They assured me they did. I got all the forms signed, they were in my car, everything's ready to go.
So we head out. A few minutes of driving and we're at the office. I ask for all of their documentation so that they housing office can make photocopies. I get four EADs and four SS cards--but no I-94s. Whoops, we left them at home! Seriously! Clearly, the lesson is that I need to just get my hands on all the paperwork first. So we have to drive back, pick up the I-94s, and then had back over the housing office.
A final aside: this particular Burmese family is Muslim. They don't speak Arabic, but definitely recognized the Arabic script. When I walked into their apartment, I was surprised to see a poster written in the Arabic script on their wall--they clearly put it up thinking it was a religious item. It was actually a poster explaining how to get your flu shot. The Virginia Department of Health released them in English, Spanish, Russian--and Farsi. Farsi is completely unrelated to Arabic linguistically, but uses the same script. So they had this poster warning people to cover their mouths when they sneeze on their wall, in a language they don't speak, all the time thinking they had found a beautiful religious wall decoration.
Even when the economy was roaring along, resettlement offices really couldn't afford to hire all the staff they needed. We tend to work long hours for modest pay, and we always have paperwork and appointments backing up on our desks. With the job market like it is right now, the vast majority of refugees coming in cannot find work, and the financial burden of paying their rent is falling even heavier than before. Whereas in years past we might pay their rent for 3 or 4 months, now we are routinely paying rents for 6, 7, and 8 months.
Obviously, we can't afford to do this. For the past 6 months our budget kept contracting. We hoped we could locate jobs for people, but we've now hit a brick wall. We haven't found enough jobs, and the coffers are empty. So we're now applying as many people as we can for a public housing community about 2 miles from their current apartment complex.
Applying for public housing is by far the most bureaucratic and paperwork-intensive process I've ever experienced. It's easier to get people their green card than it is to get them into public housing. There can't be any stray marks on the application, nor can there be any white-out. You have to use the same color ink throughout. The application is 14 pages long. It's really quite ridiculous.
Anyway, after taking about seven families in, I've gotten pretty good at handling these applications. I know exactly how to fill out everything to make sure it goes through fine the first time, and I know exactly what the refugees need to bring to make the whole process run smoothly. So today I took in a Burmese family. They spoke very little English, so I had another person translate for me, explaining that this new house would be free, and that because no one is working in their family, they cannot stay much longer in their current apartment. They understood and agreed to come with me (all adults on the application must be physically present when you submit the application). I asked, at least 3 times: "You have your EAD (a federally-issued photo ID), Social Security Card, and your I-94 (the document that all refugees get when they enter the US that is their proof of legal residence), right?" They assured me they did. I got all the forms signed, they were in my car, everything's ready to go.
So we head out. A few minutes of driving and we're at the office. I ask for all of their documentation so that they housing office can make photocopies. I get four EADs and four SS cards--but no I-94s. Whoops, we left them at home! Seriously! Clearly, the lesson is that I need to just get my hands on all the paperwork first. So we have to drive back, pick up the I-94s, and then had back over the housing office.
A final aside: this particular Burmese family is Muslim. They don't speak Arabic, but definitely recognized the Arabic script. When I walked into their apartment, I was surprised to see a poster written in the Arabic script on their wall--they clearly put it up thinking it was a religious item. It was actually a poster explaining how to get your flu shot. The Virginia Department of Health released them in English, Spanish, Russian--and Farsi. Farsi is completely unrelated to Arabic linguistically, but uses the same script. So they had this poster warning people to cover their mouths when they sneeze on their wall, in a language they don't speak, all the time thinking they had found a beautiful religious wall decoration.
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