The city will end designated shelters for newly arrived asylum-seekers by the end of this year, part of the city’s anticipated plan to merge its shelter systems, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Monday at a news conference.
The transition of the two shelter systems — one for newly arrived immigrants and another for unhoused people in Chicago — will start this week with changes that include offering first-time placement in a migrant shelter only to those who have been in the United States less than 30 days.
The merger into the One System Initiative comes two years after former Mayor Lori Lightfoot set up temporary shelters to house newly arrived migrants that were sent to Chicago on buses and planes by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, a Republican aiming to send immigrants to Democrat-led cities.
An estimated 3,800 beds designated for immigrants – funded by the city and state – will be added to the existing 3,000 beds for anyone experiencing homelessness in Chicago. That number is far less than the 14,175 beds a group of community advocates and officials had recommended the city keep for One System Initiative.
It is also less than the city’s own estimate of 11,000 shelter beds it needs to combat homelessness. An estimated 18,836 people are experiencing homelessness in Chicago this year, according to the city’s annual tally.
“Could this lead to people on the street? Look, I’ll be remiss if I did not acknowledge the financial straits that we are experiencing right now,” Johnson said, pointing to other budget needs in Chicago Public Schools and across city departments. “I don’t want to see anyone lose, right. But the harsh reality is that we can do what we can afford. We’ve been stressed to the limits.”
Ald. Andre Vasquez, chair of the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the shelter system should have served both asylum-seekers and longstanding homeless residents together from the start.
While he praised the city moving to the unified system and winding down contracts with controversial, costly staffing companies, Vasquez said he’s worried more residents will end up on the streets as the consolidated system will go into effect during the throes of winter in Chicago.
“That is concerning, because we’re going to head into winter fairly soon,” Vasquez said. “…not having 1,000 people out on the street as you’re heading into the winter.”
Jose Miguel Muñoz, executive director of La Casa Norte, was part of a group that issued recommendations for how the city could merge the two shelter systems. He said while he would advocate for more shelter beds, he thinks it’s a good thing that more beds were added.
“It’s a big win,” Muñoz said. “Do we need more? I would always advocate for more beds. This is a big increase long term.”
During Monday’s news conference, Johnson said the city could only afford a certain amount of beds and made no promises to increase the number in the future.
Johnson pointed the finger back at “scare tactics” of opponents who defeated the Bring Chicago Home referendum in March. The tax increase on the sale of high-end properties was expected to generate $100 million in revenue annually to go toward homelessness prevention.
“I think the part about it that’s most frustrating… is that if we would have passed Bring Chicago Home, if the interests of corporations who have demonstrated that they are stingy and greedy – that had they just allowed for less than 3% to pay a small, incremental increase on the transferring of property… we would have a system right now with 4,200 more beds,” Johnson said.
Monday’s announcement comes a little over a week before Johnson plans to reveal his proposed 2025 budget. He must close both a $223 million end-of-year-deficit and lay out how he’ll balance an estimated $982.4 million budget gap for next year.
In Johnson’s budget forecast laid out in August, budget officials previously said they planned to allocate $150 million to aiding the city’s migrants – the same amount the city initially included in the 2024 budget, which proved to be insufficient to carry the city through the year.
Johnson said Monday that figure is now outdated but declined to reveal how much funding the city will be allocating to supporting asylum-seekers next year.