by Travis Mateer
There is a lot that refugees don’t know about the communities that host them and maybe that’s the point. They don’t know, for example, what Missoula was like 20 years ago, and they don’t know how dire the housing situation is when they are told by do-gooders that Missoula is an inclusive place with caring people who are all eager to roll out the red carpet for traumatized refugees from around the world.
I’ve been criticizing the effort to relocate refugees to Missoula since the International Refugee Resettlement Office opened. Here are some of my posts over the years where I take the rational, yet unpopular position that Missoula is NOT a good place to bring refugees:
Reality Intrudes on Illusion Missoula is a Welcoming Community (September 4th, 2016)
On Resettling Refugees And Schismogenesis (March 5th, 2021)
Afghan Teen Charged With Rape IS A Part Of Missoula’s Refugee Resettlement Program (October 24th, 2021)
On The Stupid Generosity Of Refugee-Saving Missoula Liberals Throwing Money At The World Central Kitchen (March 11th, 2022)
Because Refugees Won’t Get All Uppity Like Disgruntled Locals (March 28th, 2022)
Yep, I was bringing up the housing crisis all the way back in 2016, when the International Rescue Committee was bitching and moaning about housing. Here’s a quote from the 2016 article I wrote:
Congolese refugees and the people trying to help them get settled in Missoula are facing a housing crisis.
Five families from refugee camps in East Africa will be in town by the end of September, none of them with a source of steady income or credit history.
It’s the job of the local resettlement agency, the International Rescue Committee, to help them secure both as quickly as possible, said IRC director Molly Short Carr.
But record home sales prices in Missoula have placed rentals at a premium. And in a town that swells this time of year with university students – many with no credit ratings themselves – property managers and landlords can afford to be picky about who they rent to.
“We’re kind of hitting a bit of a brick wall,” Carr admitted.
Now, 8 years later, it’s the same stupid story, and the idiots who continue to support bringing refugees to Missoula are finally saying NO to refugees with NO EXISTING TIES to the Missoula community. From the link (emphasis mine):
As Missoula’s International Rescue Committee continues to navigate a difficult local housing climate, the agency — the state’s only refugee resettlement organization — said it is only resettling people with local connections for the summer season.
The IRC Missoula helps refugees and others seeking asylum adjust to their new lives in the U.S. via connecting them with housing, employment and other social services. Currently, the local agency is restricting new arrivals to people with existing ties to family and friends already in Montana, IRC Missoula Deputy Director Eamon Fahey said in an email to the Missoulian.
Why not make this restriction permanent? Maybe there’s an appreciation for how refugees are NOT inclined to rock the boat in the communities where they end up. Also, they tend to have tasty and exotic cuisine, and there’s nothing do-gooders love more than seeing their favorite pet refugees serving food out of food trucks.
Here’s more from the Missoulian article about the housing woes of refugees:
The affordable housing shortage is a persistent challenge for new refugees in Missoula and across the U.S. and other newcomers, he explained, though there’s more inventory this year than in the past, which has given the agency some more options for where families can live. IRC staff works to reduce housing costs for newly arrived families.
“Specifically, the IRC has ensured most refugees arrive in the winter months when housing is more affordable, invested in a robust housing team, and worked with housing partners on innovative solutions for temporary housing,” Fahey said.
“This shortage can be a significant barrier for new arrivals who are just rebuilding their lives in America,” he said. “Families must have stable housing while they pursue self-sufficiency through employment and education opportunities.”
If you feel strong emotions welling up inside you after reading this because you have some weird notion that we already have enough homeless AMERICANS to deal with who might appreciate stable housing in order to pursue self-sufficiency, well, that’s the point. Do the do-gooders understand this? No, I don’t think they do.
The psychopath class is doing a phenomenal job dividing and conquering this country. The presidential race is a demoralization campaign, the economy is a disaster, and the media is a joke. So, what can be done about it?
I’m not sure, but I do know this: getting angry and hateful and spiteful is exactly what the psychopath class is hoping for, especially if that disdain is directed at their human shields. This is their classic divide and conquer strategy, and we’re falling for it in very predictable ways.
The sensible thing for the International Rescue Committee to do is close the Missoula office, since the housing problem has been a problem from the very beginning, but they won’t do it. Why? Because too many people are now getting paid to carry out the divide and conquer strategies of the psychopaths. That means when the weather gets cold again, these do-gooders will continue relocating refugees with no family ties to Missoula, housing crisis be damned.
Until Missoulians understand that their good will has been weaponized against them, the idiocy of financially compensated do-gooders will continue, and I’ll continue reminding readers that I’ve been warning about this for nearly a fucking decade.
If you appreciate my perspective and the cojones it takes to articulate unpopular positions in this liberal dystopia, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). I’d like to extend a special thank you to the reader and friend who put $100 dollars in my hand yesterday because it was VERY needed. I may be without conventional housing myself, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have bills to pay, like $380 for the box truck, $100 for the storage unit, $100 for my phone, and $300 in credit card payments, to name few.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned, because more stories you never knew about are coming!