{"id":21980,"date":"2019-10-07T11:43:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T15:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=21980"},"modified":"2019-10-07T12:09:46","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T16:09:46","slug":"refugees-housing-taxpayers-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/10\/07\/refugees-housing-taxpayers-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamtramck\u2019s \u201cFreedom Village\u201d Underscores the Costs of Refugee Resettlement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michigan\u2019s Wayne County \u2013 a crime-ridden<\/a> and economically-depressed<\/a> area in an economically anemic state \u2013 has decided to spend $1.2 million to construct refugee housing in the small city of Hamtramck (which is surrounded by the city of Detroit). This not only seems expensive and wasteful, but also underscores the high cost of refugee resettlement schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne County is partnering with non-profit groups Samaritas (formerly known as Lutheran Social Services of Michigan) and Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (WMCAA) to build three duplexes<\/a> for six refugee families on an empty lot on Faber Street in Hamtramck. Dubbed \u201cFreedom Village,\u201d the development is expected to open in June 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding \u2013 $1.2 million \u2013 will come from a grant provided for building low-income housing by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD), i.e. the U.S. taxpayer. According to Wayne County, the program in question is called the HOME Investment Partnerships Program<\/a>, which \u201csupports affordable housing by providing rental housing and homeownership opportunities for low-income families.\u201d Wayne County will loan the money \u2013 at zero percent interest \u2013 to the WMCAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The county leadership is \u201creally excited,\u201d according\nto Hamtramck mayor Karen Majewski. In addition to assisting refugees, the\ncounty is also eager to turn the empty lots into houses that will generate\nproperty tax revenue. The county government and other \u201cFreedom Village\u201d\nadvocates also argues that refugees will help revitalize the local economy. At\nleast that is how the project is being sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to WXYZ<\/a> Detroit: \u201cThe goal is to take in families for about a year, providing them with low income rent and allowing time to adjust to life here in the states before finding their own home. That way, new families needing shelter can continue to circulate in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that 51 percent of Hamtramck<\/a> residents live in poverty \u2013 and 38 percent do in surrounding Detroit<\/a> \u2013 perhaps the funds would have been better spent helping low-income Americans in the area?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet the $1.2-million figure is part of the even more expensive undertaking. According to a February 2018 FAIR study, the annual cost to U.S. taxpayers of refugee and asylee resettlement is $1.8 billion<\/a> \u2013 and over five years, that financial burden skyrockets to $8.8 billion. This totals $15,900 per refugee, annually, or just under $79,600 per refugee over their first five years in America. Thus, while the United States has an ethical obligation to assist refugees, large-scale resettlement turns out to be a highly inefficient way of doing it, and constrains our ability to help more people around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Matthew O\u2019Brien and Spencer Raley pointed out, \u201cthe\nU.S. should begin using its considerable economic, diplomatic and military\ninfluence to de-escalate the conflicts that give rise to refugees. In\nsituations where de-escalation is not possible, the U.S. should provide direct\nassistance to refugees within, or nearby, their country of origin, rather than\nrelocating them to the United States. These alternatives are both more\ncost-effective \u2013 up to 10 times cheaper \u2013 and safer for the American public,\nthan resettling refugees in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan\u2019s Wayne County \u2013 a crime-ridden and economically-depressed area in an economically anemic state \u2013 has decided to spend $1.2 million to construct refugee housing in the small city of Hamtramck (which is surrounded by the city of Detroit). This not only seems expensive and wasteful, but also underscores the high cost of refugee resettlement<\/p>\n

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