Laura and Isaac wrote this reflection on renting their duplex as newlywed landlords to a special Syrian refugee family, as well as living in the same duplex. They are currently renting to another refugee family resettled by Arrive Ministries.
In 2021, we were newly married and looking to buy our first home. We were aware of the great difficulty that resettlement agencies were having in finding affordable housing for newly arriving families. We were also having a difficult time finding a place to call home that we could afford. We wondered if we could help meet the need for refugee housing while finding a home of our own.
Eventually, we were able to purchase a duplex in east Saint Paul. In December 2021, Laura met a Syrian family at the airport, along with a volunteer team from Arrive Ministries, and literally welcomed the family to their new home! We had the privilege of renting our duplex to Ousama and Majd and their 3 kids. We lived upstairs and they lived downstairs.
We quickly learned to love one another and found ways to spend time with each other often by sharing a meal or activity.
Majd was always quick and generous to send one of her kids upstairs with a plate of something delicious for us to try. She would even go out of her way to make a special dessert for Laura’s grandfather if she knew Laura was planning to visit him.
Isaac was able to introduce the kids to what it means to have fun in the Minnesota snow within a few weeks of their arrival and those memories are still often mentioned! Their oldest son was often Isaac’s shadow, working on house or yard projects together, always joking and teasing each other. The two other children were eager to share hugs with Laura, as well as pictures, songs, or new English words they were learning in school.
The shy youngest son even made up a song about Laura and would sing it up the stairwell to her. Once Majd told us that the kids saw us as Aunt and Uncle, and we were honored…
Put simply, Ousama and Majd were excellent tenants. They were always early with rent, asked us questions about how to best clean or use something new to them, and were quick to tell us if there were problems with the unit. They were respectful of our rules and guidelines for maintaining their unit and asked questions if they didn’t understand something. They were fascinated with the “wood homes” that are in America. They told us that in Egypt and Syria, the homes were all made of stone/cement, so they were curious about how to care for a “wooden home.” There was a language barrier that we had the challenge of navigating, but through charades and translation apps, we managed quite well.
Photo not of their actual duplex
Ousama got part-time work quickly and one time when sipping tea, we discussed their hopes and dreams for work beyond his part-time job. After about one year in Minnesota, Ousama began looking for full-time work, seeking out our advice on how to apply for a good full-time job. He found a job about 45 minutes away from where we lived. We celebrated with them but knew that if the job was a good fit, they would likely move closer to his work.
They did begin to look for a home and decided that it made more sense to purchase a home than to rent one, and we readily agreed that we thought they could do it! They sent us listings of homes they were looking at and we helped them narrow down the search to a home that best fit their needs. We discussed budgeting and the added costs involved in owning a home. They were nervous but excited; feelings that we had experienced not too long ago.
We celebrated with them when they were able to close on their home about 2 years after arriving in the United States!
We have missed their closeness but are proud of their accomplishments and are so thankful that we can still call them friends and connect with them regularly.
We know our situation is unique in that we all lived under the same roof and were neighbors as well as landlords/tenants, but we highly recommend this living situation and think it could become a new trend in renting! After this initial experience, our dream now is to be able to one day rent out both units to newly arrived refugee families like Ousama and Majd and live in a home nearby.
Majd shares her family’s appreciation for their landlords:
We were very happy and lucky to have Laura and Isaac as our landlords who were friendly, compassionate, and quick to help. We love them and we were truly like a family. They are still our friends.”
