Thread: Ohio homeless agencies struggle with Somali migrant influx

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/dulut ... 922635.htm

Ohio homeless agencies struggle with Somali migrant influx

NICK JULIANO
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Bags of clothes, toys and other family belongings spill out of lockers along one wall of the shelter, and brightly colored African blouses and wraparound garments are draped over fences outside to air.

From cubicles tucked in a corner of the YWCA Interfaith Hospitality Network shelter, workers contact other poverty-relief agencies. They are trying to find affordable housing and jobs for about a dozen Somali Bantu families who have lived for months in a center designed for stays of only a few weeks.

Experts say Columbus - already home to the nation's second-largest Somali population - is seeing a wave of secondary migration that is unmatched in other cities. Social service agencies say they were not prepared to deal with the influx.

"It's a significant strain," said Angela Plummer, director of the Community Refugee Immigrant Services. "We're a refugee agency so people go, 'Here are these refugees, help them.'"

About 200 Somali Bantus have come to Columbus from other U.S. cities in the past six months, seeking jobs and affordable housing they heard earlier immigrants easily found. Most have come from Memphis, Tenn.; Atlanta; Hartford, Conn.; and Chicago, according to interviews with migrants and aid workers by Daniel James Van Lehman, deputy director of the National Somali Bantu Project at Portland State University in Oregon.

At the shelter, African languages mix with English as parents and staff try to corral a dozen or so children to help clean the open room filled with benches, tables and cots - a continuous task with so many people in such a small space.

Isha Hussein Gudey arrived from Chicago four months ago because she was no longer able to pay her $800 monthly rent.

"The priority right now is to get housing," Gudey said in her native Maay Maay through an interpreter. Median monthly rent for apartments in Columbus is lower, ranging from $683 for two bedrooms to $989 for four, according to federal statistics.

Yet housing regulations prevent having more than two people per bedroom in apartments, and affordable three- and four-bedroom apartments are scarce.

Gudey stays at the shelter with her three youngest children - three others are at school. Her husband, Sheikh Mohamed Abdalla, is trying to learn English, hoping to find a job once the family finds a home.

As of Friday, 11 families totaling 82 people - about 40 percent of the new migrants - still were staying at the shelter. They are bused to churches at night to sleep.

"They did overwhelm the system, and they caught people off guard," Van Lehman said.

Most of Ohio's first wave of Somalis started arriving in the mid-1990s to escape civil war. About 400 Bantus, a group whose ancestors were brought to Somalia in the 19th century as slaves, came to Columbus last year.

Most now have jobs and houses or apartments and are familiar with most aspects of American culture, community officials say.

Columbus now is home to about 30,000 Somali immigrants, a community smaller only than the one in Minneapolis.

Franklin County had $639,704 in federal grants to help the first wave of immigrants find jobs, houses and health care, enroll their children in school and learn English. A coalition of government and social service organizations will request more money, said Lance Porter, a spokesman for the county's Department of Job and Family Services.

Community Refugee Immigrant Services receives a federal grant to deal with unexpected arrivals, but that is enough for only one employee, who can't handle all cases, Plummer said. The money helps migrants find jobs, but not housing.

In Columbus, Somali community organizations are translating for the recent migrants and cooking authentic Somali food.

Community leaders agree the city wasn't prepared to handle the influx.

"The (federal) settlement plan was not executed the way it should have been," said Fatuma Bihi, a spokeswoman for Somali Women and Children's Alliance, which also helps immigrants find homes and jobs. She said Somalis are used to living in close-knit villages and were not accustomed to being spread throughout different communities.

Many new refugees have no family or friends in Columbus - unlike other secondary migrants - and come just because they have a vague impression of thriving community, officials say.

"They're arriving without any direct connection (to Columbus) or even job prospect," said Dennis Evans, a spokesman with the state Department of Job and Family

Ok, so we should just clear out a whole city street and let a whole Somali village live there? Yeah, sounds great to me (sarcasm). Its amazing some of the demands that they ask of us. Accept what we gave you or go back to Somalia.

As of Friday, 11 families totaling 82 people????

That is just under 7 and a half per family!