MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Despite months at the negotiating table, dozens of Afghan refugees placed in Montgomery County’s Enclave Apartments are once again facing homelessness.
The negotiations between the property owners and the Montgomery County Council began back in September when the families were told they had just days left in the apartment complex, due to unpaid rent.
However, Ambereen Husain of Project Safe says this isn’t a situation the families put themselves in, since the families were placed at Enclave by various resettlement agencies.
The families were then charged above-market rent rates, and after a few months, their rental assistance dried up, leaving them with little to no options.
“Families are in complete distress, they’re waiting for the sheriff to knock on their door, they don’t know where to go,” Husain said. “These are men and women who served in the U.S.’s best interests in Afghanistan, who worked alongside our troops in combat zones, who had to flee because of Taliban rule. Only to be told when they come here that they’re going to be thrown onto the streets. This is not the American Dream that they wanted.”
Sheila Sayedi says she feels abandoned as she tries to care for her five children.
She told WUSA9 through an interpreter that although she found a job on her own, it’s just part-time, and can’t cover her monthly rent of more than $2,500, and doesn’t know where to go.
Now advocates hope the county can do something soon to keep these families housed.
“It’s a lot of resources here in Montgomery County, and it’s going to be a shame if we don’t find a solution,” says We Are Casa Executive Director Gustavo Torres. “We don’t want to see families become homeless. That is going to be totally unacceptable in one of the richest counties in the nation.”
WUSA9 has reached out to the refugee resettlement agencies for more answers, but we have not heard back.