<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1645031435351.png" alt="Shafiq Jahish, a refugee from Afghanistan who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military, testified Tuesday at the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Shafiq Jahish, a refugee from Afghanistan who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military, testified Tuesday at the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/02/15/refugees-seen-as-partial-solution-to-workforce-shortage-if-housing-available/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN
 — An Afghan refugee who is living a version of the American dream urged
 Nebraska state lawmakers Tuesday to help others fleeing violence and 
wars to find a “landing place” in the United States.Shafiq
 Jahish, a former interpreter for the U.S. military, said that when 
refugees arrive, they often can’t find immediate housing, in part 
because they don’t have any money, a job or a rental history needed to 
lease an apartment.Without a permanent address, Jahish said, they cannot obtain a driver’s license or enroll their children in school.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1645031501709.jpeg" alt="State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)" />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)</figcaption>
 </figure>Jahish,
 who now works as an IT professional for an Omaha bank, was among those 
testifying in favor of a proposal that would earmark $10 million of the 
state’s American Rescue Plan Act funds for discounted housing for 
low-income individuals, including refugees.Despite
 the barriers, Jahish said he was able to work his way up from working 
as a truck driver and then as a supervisor, to earning a college degree.
 The 34-year-old now owns a home for his growing family of seven.“I
 hope that we can all come together and give these people a hand so that
 they, too, can become homeowners,” Jahish told the Legislature’s 
Appropriations Committee.That
 eight-member committee is considering dozens of ideas on how to spend 
the state’s $1 billion in ARPA funds. Tuesday, it took testimony about a
 handful of proposals to use some of those funds to address a shortage 
of low-income and “workforce” housing in the state.&nbsp;The
 lack of decent housing has been identified as a major impediment in 
filling the state’s estimated 60,000 unfilled jobs, the committee was 
told.<h2>Immigrants have buying power</h2>Chris
 Tonniges of Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, which has resettled 
700 Afghan refugees, said immigrants can help solve Nebraska’s current 
labor shortage.In
 the Omaha-Council Bluffs area, immigrants, including those with refugee
 status, allowed local companies to “preserve or create” 3,400 
manufacturing jobs, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/city/omaha/">according to a report</a>
 just released by New American Economy, a bipartisan immigration 
advocacy group. Those workers paid an estimated $483 million in taxes 
and held $1.4 billion in spending power in 2019, the organization said.“Mayors
 and business leaders from Hastings, Grand Island, Kearney and other 
communities where unemployment is dangerously low recognize the 
workforce solution that people with refugee status can provide,” 
Tonniges&nbsp;said.He was among advocates for refugees supporting Legislative Bill 968, introduced by State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams.<h2>‘There’s no place like home’</h2>The
 bill would allocate $8 million in ARPA funds to nonprofit groups to 
develop affordable housing — either new or refurbished apartments — for 
low-income workers, including those with refugee status.Another $2 million would be earmarked for job training.Dorn
 said a recent study found that the state’s housing shortage was 
particularly acute for those in “extreme poverty,” with only 41 
affordable units per 1,000 people.“There’s
 no place like home,” the senator said, and refugees especially “are 
anxious to build a new home and new life” in the United States.Also
 supporting the bill was a representative of Catholic Social Services in
 Lincoln, which has resettled 150 Afghan refugees so far and 50 refugees
 from other countries.<h2>Jesus was a refugee</h2>Tom
 Venzor of the Nebraska Catholic Conference said that because there’s a 
shortage of safe and affordable housing for refugee families, Catholic 
Social Services has had to spend $50,000 on hotels that could have been 
spent in better ways.&nbsp;Venzor
 added that Jesus was once a refugee, when his family fled to Egypt to 
escape King Herod’s order to kill all baby boys in Bethlehem.&nbsp;Mohammed
 Jimale of East African Development Association of Nebraska, which helps
 450 low-income families in the Omaha area, also spoke in support of the
 bill. No one testified against the measure.

Refugees seen as partial solution to Neb. worker shortage if housing available