Old Lyme ― In a neat three-bedroom house on the outskirts of Rogers Lake, another refugee family is building an American foundation they hope to carry with them when their lease is up at the end of the year.

Mahmoud and Fadia Alkhalawi arrived in November with their three children under the age of 9. The Syrian couple escaped the war-ravaged city of Homs 12 years ago to live as refugees in Lebanon before being accepted into the United States Refugee Admissions Program.

But eight months in, they are worried what will happen when the home subsidized by the Lyme-Old Lyme Refugee Resettlement Committee is no longer available to them.

The house in Old Lyme has been home to families from Syria, the Congo, Puerto Rico, Iraq and Afghanistan since it was purchased by the First Congregational Church in 2017 as part of a tri-church refugee resettlement initiative.

The couple spoke from their living room last week with the help of a translation app on Mahmoud Alkhalawi’s smart phone.

“House prices are terrifying for me and my family,” he said. “Our income does not cover the rents of the houses in this area, the very high priced houses.”

Amid a flurry of medical appointments, English language classes each week for the couple, and school activities for the children, Mahmoud Alkhalawi is working increasing hours at the Noble gas station in East Lyme as the family acclimates to a new life.

Meanwhile, the amount the family pays each month toward the $1,500 rent goes up in $100 increments each month. He said they are paying $900 currently.

“In the last month, we will almost pay the full rent,” he said.

But the lowest available rent they have found so far is almost double what they pay now, he said. Their search has covered all of southeastern Connecticut.

“We did not find a house for the same rent, and it is impossible to find it,” he said.

Median three family rent is $2,525

The median rent for available three-bedroom rentals in New London and Windham counties as of Thursday was $2,525 and had been on the market for 17 days, according to the Eastern Connecticut Association of REALTORS. The lowest rent of $1,600 had been on the market for one day.

The family receives $1,125 per month in temporary federal assistance that they use for expenses like rent, utilities and food, according to Mahmoud Alkhalawi. He currently brings in about $370 per week working four, six-hour days at the gas station.

He said his goal is to go to school to become an electrician. It’s a field he worked in while in Lebanon.

“I have great ambitions,” he said. “I have ambitions to take care of my children, their future, and the success of my family in this country.”

The Alkhalawis were joined for the interview by resettlement co-chairwoman Carol Carlson and member Howard Margules. Carlson acknowledged the search is a big stressor for the family, but emphasized the yearlong lease is intended to give each family time to integrate into the community and to provide more refugees with the same opportunity.

“Not that the deadline is absolute, but we can’t take another family until we get them settled,” she said.

The committee has reached out to its communities at First Congregational Church, Christ the King Church, and Saint Ann’s Episcopal Parish to identify landlords with available rentals. Carlson said the group might be able to subsidize the family’s next home to a smaller degree than they do in the first year.

Taking special care

Fadia Alkhalawi is a full-time caregiver to sons Mohammed, 9, Ahmad, 8, and Ibrahim, 7. The family’s situation is complicated by a birth injury sustained by Mohammed that left him with brain damage and associated developmental and behavioral challenges.

The couple, along with Carlson, described a comprehensive report from the Yale Child Study Center received a day earlier that they said will help guide Mohammed’s special education accommodations going forward. All three boys attend Lyme Consolidated School.

Mahmoud Alkhalawi raised the possibility of his wife finding work during the school day, but emphasized she must remain available to the children most of the time.

“My son Mohammed has a special condition and his mother must always take special care of him,” he said. “Even if she gets work, she cannot leave him somewhere.”

Fadia Alkhalawi is in weekly therapy to address mental health issues resulting from their experiences in Lebanon, her husband said while his wife sat by his side. He cited his own mental health concerns, including anxiety, but added he has not sought counseling because he needs to devote his time to work, English language classes and driving his family to their own appointments.

“We have faced many difficulties. We cannot talk about all the details that we faced, but we are still suffering from the psychological effects that happened to us there,” he said.

According to the Associated Press, existing anti-refugee sentiment in Lebanon grew significantly when the country descended into an economic crisis in 2019. Lebanon hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered.

The media outlet reported the war in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Mahmoud Alkhalawi through translation said that some of their experiences “cannot be removed easily.”

Then, in English, he added: “But we are trying.”

Taking control

The work of the resettlement committee is guided by New Haven-based nonprofit Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, or IRIS. Ann O’Brien, IRIS director of sponsorship programs, said the organization has overseen the resettlement of 2,000 refugees in Connecticut and throughout the country this year.

Each family brought to the United States through the program arrives to a fully furnished home and, in keeping with a U.S. Department of State guideline, to a culturally appropriate meal.

“The goal from day two forward is to give the family control of their lives back as quickly as possible,” she said. “Because from the minute they fled their own home country, they lost control of their lives.”

Refugees in the resettlement program are entitled to cash assistance and Medicaid, according to O’Brien. They are also eligible for federally subsidized housing.

“They are legal residents of the United States just like any other resident of the United States,” she said. “They can sign up for subsidized housing and see if they qualify. They can do like so many families before them: the teenagers can get part time jobs, the stay-at-home parents can get part-time jobs. They can do everything necessary to put together the means to make it.”

Still, she acknowledged the current housing situation is challenging.

“I won’t sugarcoat it,” she said. “It is hard right now. The post-COVID housing crisis is real.”

Families that used to be able to find a place to live in days or weeks are now searching for months, according to O’Brien.

The pandemic has exacerbated a lack of affordable options in a country where experts say there was already a basic mismatch between the amount the lowest-income earners take home in pay and the cost of housing.

In areas on the eastern and western seaboards, the situation is worsened by a shortage of new construction that has left wealthier residents bidding up costs for older, less desirable homes that otherwise would be affordable to lower income households.

She said acknowledging the lack of affordable housing is critical to building support among landlords who are in a position to help. She advises her clients to talk to potential landlords about the refugee program, their personal experiences and why they’re so happy to be in the United States.

“Because it does take a little bit of a leap of faith to rent to a family that only has a year of job history in the U.S.,” she said.

She said the ability for a refugee family to make its case to a landlord has been affected by the trend of corporate entities, often from out of state, buying up properties previously under local ownership.

“So it’s hard to find those personal interactions,” she said.

She said her agency and community groups like the Lyme-Old Lyme Refugee Resettlement Committee can provide families with housing leads. But the goal of the resettlement program a year or so into a family’s arrival is to have them guide their own search.

“And they can,” she said. “We’ve given them tools. We’ve introduced them to interpreters. They’ve gotten lots of time with those interpreters. And we really want the family to start taking the lead.”

Taking time

For the Alkhalawis, the hope is continue learning the language so they can pursue job training opportunities. They study English in three-hour sessions five times a week during the school year and three times a week during the summer.

“We want more time so we can integrate into this society and get a good job and cover our expenses completely,” Mahmoud Alkhalawi said. “We just want more time.”

The refugee resettlement committee relies on donations and volunteers to provide refugees with the help needed to become self-sufficient. Carlson from the Alkhalawi living room was optimistic the circle will continue.

“When we do find them housing, they will take everything in this house that they want ― I mean, they can empty it out ― and we will fill it again and take a new family,” she said.

She described the family’s journey as a long one that isn’t over yet.

“It will take time,” she said.

e.regan@theday.com