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Current Challenges facing newly
arriving refugees
When refugees come to a new area, they face countless challenges to living
as successfully as they wish. These challenges are clearly not restricted to
the Seattle area.
- LANGUAGE/ CULTURAL BARRIER:
Many refugees are coming from areas that don’t speak English and also
experience cultural barriers and issues.
- They
might find it hard to communicate with people to get services that they need.
This includes services that are provided for the government and can
simply be because of not having enough translators.
- While
the Washington state
government deals with refugees, they are required to provide a
translator for them. However, refugees that speak more than 75 languages
came to Washington in
1998, and many agencies were not able to meet the various language
demands.
- They
can be easily taken advantage of by people that are exploiting them
because of language difficulties. This can occur in many different
settings. Including, but not limited to, any contracts that they might
enter into (especially in regards to housing), job requirements and
terms, negotiable prices, and schooling for their children or
themselves.
- There
are issues getting and maintaining living wage jobs because people many
not understand terms of the job, have trouble communicating, and
inability to fulfill responsibilities because of misunderstandings.
- Many
refugees who come to the state are not even aware that they are available
for the limited amount of benefits that they are granted. They can be
denied benefits if they do not apply for them within a certain time
window. (Changes based on the service that they are applying for. For
example, food stamps are available for much longer than employment
placement services or cash subsidies.)
- NOT KNOWING AN AREA/
NEIGHBORHOOD:
- When
people don’t know an area that they’re moving to, they most likely will
not know what a convenient location within the city is for employment
and amenity access.
- This
can cause higher migration to areas of similar ethnic composition, thus
creating barriers to societal assimilation and integration. Some areas
of similar minority ethnic composition can have higher crime rates and
other negative social indicators.
- JOBS/ EMPLOYMENT:
- As
a result of language and cultural differences, it is difficult to get a
job. It
is estimated that the largest barrier to getting and maintaining a
living wage job is simply a lack of vocational English training.
- There
is a direct relationship between the length of time in the country and
employment, and we see a less favorable pattern for people who arrived
beginning in the year 2000. (This less favorable pattern means that
there is a lower rate of continued employment.)
- As
a result of difficulties obtaining social security numbers, green cards,
or work permits creates additional difficulties because almost no one
can legally hire them. This can push them into a volatile and illegal
cycle of working with jobs that are both unstable and include very
little benefits for them. With jobs that are not sustained and
registered as legal, their employers are not under an obligation to pay
them minimum wage, follow current labor laws, or avoid discrimination.
This can be seen as a human rights violation.
- Refugees
are required by the state to accept any job offers that are given to
them. (WorkFirst Program.) Doing so (an income of any amount) can
dramatically reduce the amount of funding (especially through welfare)
that they are eligible for.
- Benefits
are based on a sliding scale, which is determined by the home state.
These numbers are not available for the general public but we do know
that funding and refugee benefits are very limited in the amount of time
that they are offered for.
- SCHOOLS:
a. Difficulties in registering children for
school.
- Children
may have trouble learning at public schools because schools are not
equipped with teachers that are fluent in the refugees’ native language.
- This
can cause a burden on the ESL programs within the public schools.
Teachers are already pressed to provide services and more students
create additional strain with little financial compensation. Washington
is not served by national programs, including Teach for America which
provides additional learning services for poor inner city schools.
- 22%
of students in the Seattle Public
School system do not speak English as a
first language. The majority of these students are Asian.
- Hard
for adults to get schooling in order for them to acclimate because of
high costs and lack of time as well as other barriers such as language.
They may also not know where they can go for these opportunities.
- HOUSING OPTIONS/ KNOWLEDGE:
- Refugees
frequently lack the basic knowledge in how to get a place to live.
- While
they may be set up in a home or shelter either by a government program
or through an NGO, they may have trouble understanding how to keep it.
- Many
NGO’s provide short term solutions, but very few long term/ sustainable.
- The
available amount of housing is minimal. Refugees may have to wait for
years on the Seattle Housing Authority
list for low income housing if they qualify. People may wait up to 17
years for a home. For those people that are not in need of public
housing, there is still a shortage of both affordable housing and even
housing in general. Vacancy rates hovering between 2 and 3% overall, and
below 1% in some Seattle
neighborhoods, have made housing hard to find and have pushed both rents
and home prices up.
- Rents
have increased a total of about 22% per year over the last three years.
Home prices have increased even more sharply. The average priced home
for sale in Seattle at
$271,000 requires a family of four have an income of over $95,000 to
purchase, well over the median family income of about $65,000. For the
first time in Seattle,
families who earn the median income now find that only 25% of the homes
for sale in our city are affordable to them. (City
of Seattle Housing Summary 2002.)
- There
are difficulties even obtaining specific statistics for refugees on
account of privacy issues and lack of records.
- DISCRIMINATION:
- People
discriminate against refugees in the job market because of language difficulties (communication
challenges), trouble with obtaining work permits (barrier to hiring),
and cultural differences towards job expectations.
- People
discriminate in the social world because of feeling like their current
[social] environment may be threatened, increased job competition,
perceived social service cuts, overcrowding in schools, and tax
increases for refugee benefits.
- Post
9/11 distrust towards those of different ethnic backgrounds, especially
those coming from Middle East area or those
professing to be of the Islamic faith.
- LACK OF SUSTAINED SOCIAL NET/
HEALTH CARE CONCERNS:
- One
of the newest concerns is that of health care; the longer that refugees
are here, the worse their health becomes. Reasons for this include that
they are not able to pay for medical expenses without government aid
(which runs out after a few months), they are not used to new conditions
that may require them to change their lifestyle, they may not know where
to get medical attention
- The
Federal Government has a current definition of “health” stated as a
personal and social state of balance and well-being in which people feel
strong, active, wise and worthwhile.
- Health
“literacy” is a problem because it is estimated that 40 to 45 percent of
the American refugee population is functionally illiterate and that more
than 50 million Americans, especially the elderly, have inadequate
health literacy skills.
- Increasing
number of refugees with AIDS are coming to Washington.
(Over 30% of incoming Liberians are reported to have AIDS.) Refugees
from Africa are the fastest growing groups of
admittances, with 14 new refugee offices being opened throughout the
African continent in 2003. President Bush has expressed desires to
increase admittance for refugees from Africa and
made it a national priority.
- Increasing
mental health concerns as more victims of war and torture are arriving.
- There
are an estimated 500,000 torture survivors in the U.S.,
and presently, there are 30 treatment programs in 19 States that are
members of the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs
(NCTTP). Internationally, there are more than 200 treatment programs in
80 countries for victims of torture. In 1999, the Center for Victims of
Torture established a treatment program in Guinea.
It is also estimated that over 30% of adult torture victims could be
diagnosed with clinical depression.
- Depression
is a good indication of mental health. Comparing an American rate of
depression of 6.6 percent with rates as high as 68 percent among
Cambodians in 1967, with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is also
common in that population and among Bosnians. The high rates are related to
psychosis, disabilities, family conflict, fear of the government, a
search for justice, or a desire for revenge, which left them physically
and mentally exhausted.
- Funding
has remained an issue for State programs, specifically rules governing
the use of Medicaid funds for medical interpreters.
- “The
President’s FY 2004 budget request for ORR is $461.63 million, a
decrease of $19 million in Transitional and Medical Services (refugee
cash and medical assistance).”- Gayle
Smith, ORR 2003.
- The
narrow scope of the Healthy Families Initiative set-aside does not meet
the pressing needs of many refugee communities across the country.
1) Refugees
are only granted governmental assistance for 4-8 months from their entry date
and many people are not even aware of the services that exist in their area/
neighborhood or how to access them.(Please consult Northwest
Justice Project’s list of potential social services.)
- In
order to qualify for ANY services, they must prove that they are very
low income, meet other “standards”, and have few resources of your own.
(Read: under $2,000). Once any of these conditions fail to be met,
benefits may be cut off partly or fully.
- Concerns
are especially great towards elderly refugees and unaccompanied minors.
Specific funding for these groups is very small and clearly not adequate
for need specific approaches and attempted programs.
- Thousands
of elderly or disabled refugees live on $594 a month.
- Funding
for minors is one of the areas of growing concern, especially as more
minors arrive who have lost parents to AIDS. (UNHCR estimates that over
7.7 million children are refugees internationally.) The
minors program is currently only receiving a fourth of what it
should be to operate adequately.
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Barriers to obtaining housing
In addition to the problems that occur with simply trying to adjust to a
new environment comes challenges in obtaining housing. Like before, countless
challenges exist and are individual to each person, but there are a few more
prevalent ones.
- Seattle
Housing Authority waiting list too long.
- Not
enough low income housing and priority is given to people that are
currently waiting. There is no specific waiting list for refugees. A
total of 10,177 households are on SHA’s waiting list for subsidized
housing units, including those waiting for Section 8 Certificates and
Vouchers.
- Difficulties
obtaining Section 8 vouchers (one of the main options for low income
individuals.) No special priority is given to refugees and they are
placed below current US
citizens that are already qualified. Many refugees bring large families
with them and this makes obtaining adequately sized housing difficult
and can lead to overcrowding.
- Problems
obtaining housing for minors. No large scale government programs are
currently in place to help target this increasing target group. NGO’s
are the main groups that target this issue but concentrate primarily on
getting them housing with people from their particular organization that
are living within the area. This is clearly not an effective plan.
- Housing
costs too much and many pay 30-50% of their gross income on housing.
·
Government subsidies that are provided don’t
last long enough to obtain permanent housing.
- Subsidies
that are provided are in a lump sum of money and are not ear marked for
specific costs, making it difficult for people to pay for all things
that they need.
- Mutual
Assistance Agencies (MAA i.e. NGO’s) are being depended upon to provide
social services, yet the subsidies that they are being given by the
government are nowhere near to being enough to cover the costs that they
incur.
·
These grantee agencies are responsible to
provide initial "nesting" services covering basic food, clothing,
shelter, orientation, and referral for the first 30 days. In FY 1998, the
agencies received a per capita amount of $720 from the State Department for
this purpose. After this period, needy refugees are eligible for the
assistance provided under ORR's program of domestic assistance. Again, ORR’s
programs provide support for a maximum of 8 months.
- They
cannot get loans to pay for home purchases, related expenses, or other
housing costs.
·
Social Security numbers are only given out
when a certain amount of paperwork has been approved. It can take years to
fill out all of this paperwork sometimes. A Social Security Number is given
based on the state that they were admitted into as a refugee, which poses a
problem for those that are moving around within their new country and they
may have trouble getting work permits over this.
·
People are unwilling to lend to them because
of lack of economic resources. They will not have very much capital saved, no
equity from previous commitments, no credit (or poor credit if they have
any), and can have trouble making initial costs. There is also the increased
risk of loan and mortgage defaults.
·
Unable to produce proof of employment. This
can frequently be a by product of earlier discussed issues regarding work
permits and social security numbers. Without this sort of information and
proof most institutions will not lend to them, and they are in danger of being
drawn into predatory loans from those that choose to do so.
·
They are not aware of their rights as new
homebuyers.
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Policy
Suggestions
- Increase
cooperation between different NGO’s providing similar services.
·
Many NGO’s provide similar services but there
is no umbrella program to draw them together and make sure that resources are
best being used.
·
Give refugees when they first get their
entrance paperwork completed lists of organizations that can provide services
for them in order to streamline the process and make sure that everyone has a
better chance of getting what they need.
- Better
accountability between independent organizations and federal government.
·
There is very little accountability between
organizations that are receiving funding from the government (sometimes in
very large amounts.) The primary things that are documented have simply to do
with the amount that each organization receives and this is still very
difficult for the general public to obtain.
·
Publicly display monetary amounts that are
given to each organization and require public annual reports.
- Make
the assistance program wider in scope (i.e.: change requirements for
subsidy qualifications) to make it beneficial for more people.
·
Many people are not eligible for programs that
they should be because of the unreasonable qualification requirements.
(Differs for each benefit and is different in each state.)
·
Very few federal guidelines.
- Unlink
with Social Security and Medicaid so that failures in that area will not
transfer over.
·
This will work to decrease the volatility of
subsidies. Volatility makes it difficult for people to become self-sustaining
because they do not have a guaranteed source of funds and those that are
provided are rarely enough to allow them to save for future financial
independence.
- Strengthen
poverty reduction programs in areas currently comprised of refugees and
immigrants. 30-40% of growth of low-income individuals between 2003 and
2005 will be from immigrants and refugees. This is concentrated in
minority dominated neighborhoods. (See
City
of Seattle Growth Plan.)
·
Introduce wider based mentor programs, such as
the ones that are available for many immigrant families. There are currently
some job/ employment training programs but they are too institutionalized to
cater to people’s specific needs.
·
Increase health care coverage for minors,
especially those with AIDS.
- Streamline
application process for various documents to make it easier to:
·
Get a work visa/ permit sooner to allow them
to get a living wage job sooner and decrease dependency on welfare and government
subsidies. (Acceptable
documents for hiring of immigrants and refugees in Seattle.)
·
Guarantee certain support for those coming in
by being able to adequately track and control available funding.
·
This will discourage illegal immigration
because people will be able to get through necessary legal processes. Illegal
immigration poses additional economic and political costs on local and
national economies.
- Adapt
the current program of awarding lump sums of money to a wider voucher
based program as their primary form of support in order to:
·
Make it easier for people to obtain housing
because they are working on a voucher system instead of dealing with cash only.
Vouchers are also more reliable than cash and this will make refugees more
attractive tenants to people that they are attempting to rent from.
·
Make sure that they are not choosing between
food, housing, and other essentials because of money issues.
·
Make sure that resources are not misused.
- Change
the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program to better
meet the needs of the community especially because many original
benefits contained in the plan were eliminated in 2000. Some suggestions
include:
·
Offering employment supports such as
job search and placement assistance, post-employment follow-up services to
ensure job retention, transportation, child care and job skills training
·
Providing work experience and case
management to individuals with employment barriers, such as little or no work
history or limited English-speaking ability
·
Initiating public awareness campaigns
to inform immigrant and refugee populations of their eligibility for EITC,
food stamps, SCHIP and other services
·
Paying refugee services providers for linguistically
and/or culturally appropriate services to help refugee TANF recipients in
work activities
·
Sharing with employers the cost of on-site ESL
or literacy classes
·
Providing skills training for new,
unskilled and semi-skilled workers to improve chances of job retention and
advancement
·
Using federal TANF for nonmedical services
such as substance abuse screening, counseling by a nonmedical professional;
residential care
·
Using state MOE for medical services
not paid by Medicaid; can include medication, health insurance, and medical
treatment
·
Using state MOE to provide medical coverage
for families that are ineligible for transitional Medicaid or for adults
whose children are served by Medicaid or CHIP
·
Providing stipends to parents with
limited English proficiency who combine education and training with work
·
Funding a micro-enterprise program
·
Funding community-based organizations
that employ TANF clients by covering the appropriate share of planning,
development and implementation costs
·
Using funds to purchase food stamps
from the USDA for legal immigrants who are not eligible for benefits under
the federal food stamp program
·
Offering educational programs to prepare TANF
recipients for the responsibilities of home ownership
Suggestions provided
by the National Conference of State Legislatures
- Document
numbers of refugees coming into the city and where they are settling.
·
Most of this information is available for
other ethnic groups and migration types through the Census but is not for
refugees.
·
A better system needs to be enacted in order
to track refugees and their movements better. If worried about general privacy
issues, this could be continued for the time that they are receiving
government funds only.
·
Current
system for documenting and obtaining ethnic information using Census
tracts in Seattle.
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