A fire a month ago has resulted in a whole group of Iraqi refugees living in a motel. The bill is being paid for by the state of Massachusetts.
From the Telegram:
When the early morning fire hit their apartment building on Feb. 22, the first thing the refugees attempted to save — after themselves — was their documents. They waited years to receive refugee status, and were not about to lose more ground to red tape.
While the refugees escaped without physical injuries, they still endure psychological damage.
Mr. Jabar’s daughter has been experiencing emotional stress since the fire.
“She re-experiences the events every day. When she hears a voice or a loud noise, she thinks it is a fire alarm,” said Mr. Jabar, whose family lived in Syria for four years while they waited for their refugee status to be approved.
Because of the fire, he said his daughters felt safer in Syria.
Their resettlement agency and the apartment building owner paid the hotel tab for a few days, now the taxpayers of Massachusetts are footing the bill.
The next day, the refugees were transferred to the Quality Inn located at 50 Oriol Drive. The hotel costs were paid for by the property manager Bill Holmlund and Lutheran Social Services.
A week later, their case was transferred to the state Department of Transitional Assistance, because almost all of the families involved had children [one woman without children was sent to a homeless shelter]. The refugees remained in the hotel, but the bills began being paid by the state.
My questions are many. How did the fire start, I see nothing in this story about a report from the fire marshall? Didn’t the property owner have insurance to take care of tenants in such a situation? What is the financial relationship between Lutheran Social Services and Bill Holmlund or the unnamed property owner? Since Lutheran Social Services (with funding from the US State Department) placed the refugees in this building, why is it not LSS’s responsibility to now take care of those refugees’ needs? Why has it become the Massachusetts taxpayers problem? Is this one more story about refugees placed in unsafe housing? And, I could go on and on and on….