Resettlement agencies tell CNN that while they’ve typically had months to set up housing for refugees being welcomed to the U.S., that’s not the case when it comes to Afghan translators and family members evacuated here as part of Operation Allies Rescue. “We’re expected as a resettlement agency to do the work over the next three to four months that we did over four years,” World Relief Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy Jenny Yang told CNN.

While the federal government has been informing states about the number of Afghan refugees who are set to be welcomed into their communities, most are still being temporarily housed at a number of military bases across the country. That buys only a small amount of precious time for resettlement agencies like World Relief, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, HIAS, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services to set up the foundation—a home—for their new lives here.

“The federal government provides a one-time payment of $2,275 for each Afghan an agency serves, of which $1,225 is available for agencies to use for direct assistance like housing and basic necessities, including furniture and silverware,” CNN reported. Remaining funds keep these vital agencies operating.

But “while outside help and donations might add to those funds, rent remains expensive. The national median rent rose to $1,302 in September, up 15% from a year ago, according to a report from Apartment List, a rental listing site,” CNN continued. The ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has only complicated the situation, advocates said. 

“Doing it during a pandemic, during a housing boom, during a housing shortage for large families who tend to be concentrated in cities that are not inexpensive to live in—that’s a challenging constellation,” HIAS President Mark Hetfield said in the report. Resettlement agencies said they’ve come to rely “on leads in the community because of the scarcity.” When there are few options available, some families have been placed in an AirBnB rental, or a hotel.

Stopgap funding recently passed by Congress included additional money to aid resettlement efforts, but not before Republican senators led by Tom Cotton voted in unison for an amendment that “sought to cut off housing, food and medical aid, among other assistance, as of March 31, 2023, for Afghans who were granted parole to quickly enter the United States,” The Washington Post reported. “That includes the same translators and others who Republicans were pretending to be concerned about just last month,” Daily Kos’ Mark Sumner wrote.

”So … Republicans spent weeks spraying vitriol about how every single Afghan who ever assisted the U.S. simply had to be saved. But once they were out, they refused to help them with housing, food, or medical care,” he continued. Yes, that’s exactly what happened. LIRS President Krish O’Mara Vignarajah told CNN that “without significant resources, there’s the real prospect of homelessness for some of these families.”

While Senate Republicans made it perfectly clear they wanted to strip funding from our allies in their time of need, Americans who have been in the shoes of Afghan refugees have stepped up.

“Vietnamese Americans, once displaced themselves, mobilize to help Afghans,” The New York Times recently reported. Uyen Nguyen’s Viets4Afghans has recruited over 100 volunteers to host Afghan refugees in the Seattle area. “’We can’t just sit back, especially since we’re either refugees or children of refugees,’ said Ms. Nguyen, 46, an entrepreneur in Seattle who eventually immigrated to the United States with her brother as unaccompanied minors,” the Times reported. “I don’t see an option not to do something,” she continued.