More than 17-hundred Afghans arrived in Michigan between September and March. The Office of Global Michigan estimates that in the Detroit area about 35 percent of them are still waiting for permanent housing.
Mohammad has been living in a Dearborn hotel with his wife and three kids since January. We’re only using his first name because he says he worked with the US Embassy in Kabul and fears he could be targeted by the Taliban. He says when he finally gets permanent housing, he hopes it will be in Dearborn.
“Since I searched here, the cities, I feel safe in Dearborn. Yeah. Because as I read from the internet and search from Google, the crime rate for the Detroit is a little bit higher than this place is.”
Mohammad says he’s urged his resettlement agency to find his family housing soon so that he can enroll his kids in school. The Office of Global Michigan says almost all Afghan evacuees have been placed in permanent housing in the Lansing area, as well as Kent, Kalamazoo, and Washtenaw counties.