91视频

By Matthew Barakat, Amy Taxin, Philip Marcelo and Julie Watson

The Associated Press

IRVINE, Calif. 鈥� After fleeing her home in now-Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Mozhgan Entazari did everything she could to find a new one for her family in sunny Southern California.

The 34-year-old mother of two and her husband scoured options on online real estate marketplace Zillow 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.

In the end, Entazari needed four months to secure housing. On Sunday, the group moved into a five-bedroom house in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of LA. Rent is $4,000.

The family鈥檚 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鈥檚 dramatic airlift operation. Many hope to settle in Southern California or 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鈥檚 priciest housing markets, and units, especially those suitable for often larger Afghan families, are in short supply. Resettlement agencies report it鈥檚 taking longer to get refugees out of temporary housing like hotels, Airbnbs and churches.

Entazari will live 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, Entazari said it was incredibly difficult to find housing. And without an address, she said she and her husband couldn鈥檛 get jobs and her kids couldn鈥檛 enroll in school.

鈥淎ll our life depends on housing,鈥� Entazari said in Farsi through a volunteer interpreter.

The group had to pay two months of rent to move in. They are getting help from an organization that will fund a portion of the monthly rent until next year.

The search for housing for Afghans comes amid a聽tightening housing market聽as the U.S. crawls out of the pandemic. The nationwide vacancy rate for rental units dropped about one percentage point, to 5.6 percent, in the last quarter of 2020, according to recently released U.S. Census data. The typical U.S. rent was up nearly 16 percent to more than $1,850 in January compared to January 2021, according to Zillow, which聽launched an effort in November聽to help connect landlords with newly arrived Afghans.

In northern Virginia, Ahmad Saeed Totakhail was lucky to find permanent housing in Dale City, a suburb about 25 miles south of Washington.

His sister, who housed him until he got a place of his own, lives there. He was hired to work in nearby Arlington, by the same nonprofit that employed him in Kabul.

The area鈥檚 stunning mosques and plentiful Afghan eateries have softened the blow Totakhail absorbed when he left his homeland. But he was shocked by the high price for his family鈥檚 safe haven 鈥� $2,000 a month for rent.

鈥淚t鈥檚 quite expensive,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have friends here. I have my relatives here. But we never discussed the economics.鈥�

About half of all Afghan immigrants to the United States, many who came decades ago, live in five major metropolitan areas 鈥� New York, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California 鈥� according to the Migration Policy Institute. As a result, these areas are often attractive for Afghan newcomers, and many list the names of relatives or acquaintances already living there as contacts when resettlement agencies are considering where to send them.

But with some 76,000 Afghans arriving in the U.S. since the Taliban takeover of their country last year, many of these cities are reaching their saturation point, said Krish O鈥橫ara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration Refugee Service.

The resettlement agency has teamed with Airbnb to provide temporary housing while talking to property management companies to find a more permanent solution. They鈥檝e opened offices in more affordable markets to meet the housing demand. But the places also must have a robust job market and institutions and businesses that support Afghan families, such as mosques and Halal markets, she said.

The U.S. State Department says it doesn鈥檛 track how many of the Afghans are in temporary accommodations. The top states for Afghans arriving following the Taliban takeover are Texas (nearly 10,500), California (over 8,200), Virginia (over 5,100) and Washington (over 2,800), according to State Department data.

Near the nation鈥檚 capital, Lutheran Social Services has helped settle more than 4,000 Afghans since last summer. For many, the benefits of a community that is like 鈥渁 second Kabul鈥� outweigh the high housing costs, said Zabi, a housing coordinator for LSS and relatively recent refugee from Afghanistan who asked to be identified by his nickname because he still has family who could be targeted there because of his prior work with the U.S. military.

Zabi is working to convince area landlords and property owners that Afghan refugees are worth granting some leeway.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e gonna pay their rent, that鈥檚 for sure,鈥� he said, adding many find employment quickly, with help from the agency and the existing Afghan community.

Several Afghan families were asked to try a new location after searching for months for a home in Southern California, said Sonik Sadozai, a volunteer with Afghan Refugee Relief.

Sadozai, who came to the country as a refugee from Afghanistan four decades ago, said she鈥檚 been doing this work for years and never faced so many hurdles.

She said she was able to help Entazari and her family move out of the Irvine hotel partly because of luck: An Afghan man she had helped find housing four years ago reached out to her about a Syrian friend who had a house for rent.

But Sadozai worries she won鈥檛 be so lucky with the other Afghan families she is helping 鈥� more than 100 鈥� in their searches. Many landlords walloped by the pandemic are asking for the first two months and last two months of rent up front 鈥� a tall order for arriving families, especially those needing larger units, she said.

鈥淚 have a family of 13鈥� to assist, she said. 鈥淲here am I going to send them?鈥�