OMAHA- Refugee resettlement agencies and nonprofit groups are scrambling to secure good, affordable housing for several hundred Afghan refugees suddenly destined for Omaha, in addition to hundreds more people already expected from other nations.

A few families evacuated from Afghanistan have landed in Omaha so far. Many more Afghan evacuees are expected to begin arriving soon from camps at U.S. military bases, once their vetting and paperwork processes are complete. Meanwhile, refugees displaced from other countries around the world continue to arrive.

Nebraska resettlement agencies have committed to settling 775 Afghan evacuees in Nebraska, including more than 500 in Omaha. That number is fluid and likely to grow. It does not include so-called secondary migrants— people who are placed in other cities and then move to Omaha — or people such as Special Immigrant Visa holders whose status was already approved and can settle wherever they wish.

Before the August fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the Omaha agencies had committed to taking in a combined 700 refugees from other nations in the coming year. It’s unknown how many will actually come, but it may be fewer than that.

“Right now, there’s been such a tremendous outpouring from the community, including the housing sector, to solve this problem,” said Matt Martin, assistant vice president of community services for Lutheran Family Services. “It’s just a matter of how do we make the economics and mechanics of it work for everybody.”

Lutheran Family Services and Refugee Empowerment Center, the two resettlement agencies in Omaha, are talking daily with rental property owners and managers with whom they’ve worked in the past. With help from other nonprofits, they’re recruiting new landlords, especially large property owners who haven’t rented much to refugees before. They’re trying to find innovative ways to offset the challenges of renting to refugees and overcome misperceptions about them.

The resettlement agencies also are raising money to pay rent for the families beyond a couple of months funded by the federal government’s standard allotment for refugees, giving the families more time to find work and become self-sufficient.

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