Yesterday, when I wrote the post on how Catholic Charities in Memphis, TN must not be doing what it is contracted to do by the federal government, I had no idea that ten years ago this same negligence had occured there. Thanks to a reader with a long memory, here is a story from January 1999!
The refugee resettlement program of Associated Catholic Charities of Memphis has come under fire by a group of concerned Catholics who say the agency places its beneficiaries in dangerous, substandard housing and does not do enough to help them assimilate into American society.
The group’s leaders, attorneys Lillian Dykes and Duncan Ragsdale, have said the program should be shut down if the problems aren’t corrected, because many refugees would be better off in refugee camps or in their own countries.
The article originally published in a Catholic publication goes on:
Ironically, Dykes and Ragsdale discovered the refugee problems only after Associated Catholic Charities implemented a new housing program designed to address substandard housing and other assimilation issues. This fall, the city’s chronic lack of decent low-income housing prompted the agency to enter into an agreement with an inner-city property owner to turn one complex, the Catalina, into a transitional refugee community. A staff person was given a free place to live at the Catalina, where he is supposed to act as a troubleshooter and a liaison between refugees and the agency.
You know there is something up with this cozy relationship between these “church” agencies and slum lords. I keep hearing rumors of funny-money deals in differant spots around the country. Even in our county, we all wondered why the Virginia Council of Churches placed refugees where it did—several refugees were placed in the most notorious crime-ridden building in town.
The Memphis article goes on:
When Dykes and Ragsdale, parishioners of Sacred Heart Church, visited the Catalina for a gathering organized by employee David Spangler, they were shocked by the living conditions of the refugees. Situated in a drug-infested area down the street from a dilapidated public housing development, the attorneys found refugees living in formerly vacant apartments with defective heating and wiring systems and no air conditioning despite the oppressive summer heat. Many arrived to almost completely unfurnished apartments. Some reported being accosted by drug dealers, pimps and thieves, as well as being awakened in the night by frequent gunfire.
Read the rest of the story. A team from high up in Catholic Charities got involved, as did the US State Department which was not happy with the negative publicity, but the program went on because we are reading ten years later that Catholic Charities in Memphis is still leaving refugees in the lurch.
Someone needs to write a book! Then the book can be the focal point of a drive to reform the Refugee Resettlement program!