Portland property owner to offer apartments to refugees evacuated from Afghanistan

By SIMON GUTIERREZ

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — As Oregon prepares for the arrival of hundreds of refugees evacuated from Afghanistan after the U.S. troop withdrawal there, a Portland property owner stands ready to offer apartments for them to live in.

An immigrant himself who came to the United States from Lebanon in 1985, Moe Farhoud said he feels compelled to offer the refugees a place to stay. Farhoud owns and manages 61 apartment buildings in Southeast Portland.

“The moment these people start landing in Portland, we’re going to ease the process for everybody,” said Farhoud. “We’re going to welcome them straight, if they get the process (going), from the airport to our units.”

Catholic Charities, one of the Portland area organizations that help with refugee resettlement, estimates hundreds of people could be arriving from Afghanistan in the coming months.

“We are preparing for between I would say 200 to 400 individuals to be in Oregon by the end of December at this point. And specifically, these are the individuals that were evacuated in the last couple of weeks out of Afghanistan,” said Matthew Westerbeck, Director of Refugee Services for Catholic Charities.

Governor Kate Brown has said publicly she would welcome any refugees from Afghanistan and that the state would be ready to help them.

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