Relief Group Says Its San Diego Office Violated Policies in Housing Refugees

The national headquarters of the International Rescue Committee says it has found problems with the way its San Diego branch placed refugees in homes.

The announcement follows a KPBS investigation into allegations that refugees were told to sign falsified rental documents to get their large families into apartments.

Seven refugee families resettled in San Diego late year told KPBS that local IRC staffers placed them in apartments that occupancy guidelines say were too small. Some of them said they knew family members' names had been omitted from the leases, while others didn't realize that had happened.

According to the rental documents, too many occupants could be considered a material violation of the agreements. Four families were asked to leave their homes because of too many people. The local IRC office initially denied coaching families to lie.

In a statement to KPBS Tuesday, the IRC's national office in New York said:

We unfortunately have identified housing placement practices in San Diego which were inconsistent with the IRC’s policies and code of conduct. In response, we have taken steps to reinforce housing-related policies and practices with local staff and we have engaged with and are supporting families who may have been impacted.

KPBS repeatedly requested a phone interview with the IRC’s national office to learn more about its findings and how it was helping families, but the agency declined. San Diego IRC Executive Director David Murphy has also not responded to requests for comment.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, which awards federal dollars to resettlement agencies, said in an email that the agency was satisfied with the measures taken by the IRC.

“The State Department requested that IRC conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations, and they have communicated to us that they have taken appropriate action to ‎ensure that all refugees resettled through IRC in San Diego are served in full compliance with all relevant programs, guidelines, and codes,” the spokeswoman said.

KPBS reached out to the seven families it previously interviewed. One family said it has not been contacted by the IRC and was turned down when it previously contacted the local office for assistance. A second said the IRC also declined to help the family search for a new place. That family is now looking to move to Oregon. A third family said it was contacted by the IRC and was open to assistance, but told the staff member that it felt the organization was untrustworthy.

A fourth family said it did receive help from the IRC, which located a three-bedroom with a six-month lease, but the family worried it was too temporary.

A State Department spokeswoman said on Thursday that the agency is in contact with the IRC about the refugees’ needs for assistance.

The families arrived last year during a surge of refugees in San Diego. The wave forced IRC staffers to rapidly find homes for refugees on limited means in one of the nation’s tightest and most expensive rental markets.