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After fleeing her home in now-Taliban controlled Afghanistan, Mozhgan Entazari did everything she could to find a new one for her family in the sunny, palm tree-lined communities of Southern California.
The 34-year-old mother of two scoured options on Zillow with her husband, while the family lived at a hotel in Irvine, south of Los Angeles. She spent $200 for an Uber ride to see an apartment 90 minutes away only to find it had been rented.
Entazari needed a place not just for her immediate family but for seven members of her extended family.
Afghan refugee Mozhgan Entazari, right, talks about the challenge to find proper housing for her family in Southern California, during an interview at a hotel lobby in Irvine, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In the end, it took four months. On Sunday, they will move into a five-bedroom house in Corona, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of LA, which is renting for $4,000.
The family’s struggles are emblematic of what tens of thousands of Afghans are finding since they moved off U.S. military bases and into American cities and towns following last summer’s dramatic airlift operation. Many hope to settle in Southern California and the Washington, D.C., area, where Afghans previously established vibrant communities with Halal grocery stores and mosques.
But these communities also are among the country’s priciest housing markets, and units, especially those suitable for often larger Afghan families, are in short supply. Resettlement agencies report it’s taking longer to get refugees out of temporary housing like hotels, Airbnbs and churches.
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Entazari will share a roof with her husband and kids, along with her mother, teen sister and her brother and his family.
Without a job, credit history or co-signer, she said it was incredibly difficult to find housing. And without an address, she said she and her husband couldn’t get jobs…
Source : foxnews
