The resettlement of Afghanistan refugees and Charlotte’s affordable housing crisis – these two topics do not have an obvious tie, but they have a huge impact on Charlotte’s local refugee community. This was one of the lessons, among others, we learned during our Lunch & Learn: At the Intersection of Hope and Refuge: Supporting Charlotte’s Refugee Community. Watch the full recording on our Vimeo page.
Nimish Bhatt, Executive Director of UISAC, Emily Yaffe, Immigrant Integration Specialist at the City of Charlotte Office of Equity, Mobility & Immigrant Integration, and Marsha Hirsch, CEO of the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency, guided us through an hour discussion on how we can support our local refugee community. As we learned about the recent increase of Afghan refugees in our community, Marsha Hirsch explained the path to U.S. citizenship is long, expensive, and complicated. For example, applying for U.S. citizenship carries a $725 application fee, and other than a few banks that may offer microloans, there are essentially no community-based efforts to help refugees with this financial burden.
Before our refugee neighbors can consider applying for citizenship, they need help meeting their basic needs, such as stable housing and access to medical care, food, and clothing. And above all else, they need help rediscovering their sense of being home and having a community.
The lack of affordable living units for local refugees is staggering. Historically, housing options for Charlotte refugees depended on locally-owned homes, apartments, and condominiums. Charlotte agencies relied on their local, longstanding relationships to find housing for refugees because local owners were often motivated to help their neighbors. But now, most affordable options are owned by corporations with headquarters outside of Charlotte. While the local property management company might be motivated to house refugee families, their corporate offices are less inclined to do so with no connection to our community. Further, our panelists emphasized that temporary housing in a hotel or motel while waiting for permanent housing is not a long-term solution. And there is no hub or centralized location for refugees to live in Charlotte. Families are spread throughout Charlotte with no physical proximity to other refugee families, leaving refugees with no community and searching for a sense of belonging.
Although our Charlotte refugees often lack physical proximity to one another, UISAC has launched the Ring Project, which trains refugees to help other refugees from their own community. The Ring Project empowers refugees to become advocates in their communities by helping their peers find local resources. Refugees have instant credibility with their peers and, as Nimish Bhatt emphasized, it provides hope and faith to many.
If you are searching for a way to lend your support to our refugee neighbors, consider:
- donating household items and furniture through CRRA;
- donating money to CRRA, UISAC, or another local organization; or
- volunteering to help set up apartments, drive people to doctors’ appointments, assist with tutoring refugees who are applying for citizenship, assist with interpretation, or provide office support to local non-profits helping refugees.
