The city of Chicago will close its immigrant-only shelter system and integrate it with the city's traditional homeless shelter system.
The Windy City is also closing a “landing zone” for immigrants where newly arrived migrants can get shelter and other resources. The landing zone will close at the end of 2024 and is currently open only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with no night hours.
The move comes as the number of migrants arriving in the Windy City continues to decline. At its peak in late December, the city was home to about 14,900 migrants, but that number has now fallen to about 5,000, according to the report.
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to close the immigrant-only shelter system and merge it with the city's traditional homeless shelter system. (Vincent Alban/Getty Images)
The overhaul will add 3,800 beds to the city's current homeless services system of 3,000 legacy beds in a new strategy dubbed the One System Initiative (OSI). The new strategy aims to streamline operations and reduce the high costs of running migrant shelters, which strain city budgets.
“We are committed to creating a more cost-effective, equitable and strategic strategy to address homelessness for all people in need in the city of Chicago,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a press release announcing the plan on Monday. We are moving towards a more approachable approach.” “This transition is in line with the sharp decline in immigration to Chicago and current budget realities.”
The press release states that OSI is “an integrated protection system serving all Chicago residents” and will go into effect by the new year.
Johnson has announced plans to move thousands of migrants in 2022 due to its sanctuary city status, as Texas under the Biden administration struggles to cope with an unprecedented surge of migrants arriving in the Lone Star State. He slammed Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who started busing people to the Windy City. Harris administration.
“We fought back and showed the world how welcoming we can be,” Johnson said at a news conference, according to WTTW.
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People walk outside an immigrant shelter on Chicago's Lower West Side on March 11, 2024. (People walk outside a migrant shelter on Chicago's Lower West Side on March 11, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's efforts at the Texas border were intended to destabilize welcoming cities like Chicago, but the city responded with community sensitivity and added nearly 50,000 new residents. “We welcomed the arrivals,'' the press release said. “The Johnson Administration is proud of our city government, community partners, and government agencies for successfully responding to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.”
Chicago has hosted more than 50,000 immigrants throughout the current crisis, many of them families, according to CBS.
The city still has nearly 5,000 people living in migrant shelters, raising concerns that there won't be enough beds for migrants once the new system is in place and Chicago's harsh winter sets in. But immigrants who end up in homeless shelters will no longer face eviction.
Mr. Johnson's “Bring Chicago Home” ballot measure ultimately failed in an effort to raise $100 million by raising taxes on assets worth more than $1 million.
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Last year, more than 1,000 migrants crossed the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. Texas' Republican governor, Greg Abbott, bused thousands of immigrants into the Windy City to deal with the crisis. (John Moore/Getty Images)
The crisis has cost Chicago taxpayers nearly $200 million so far since it began, and the city faces a $982.4 million shortfall in 2025, according to WTTW. That's what it means.
“Instead, we can only take on what our budget allows,” Johnson said, according to WTTV. “But imagine our capacity would increase even more if ‘Bring Chicago Home’ were passed.”
“Could this cause people on the streets? Look, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize the economic hardship we're experiencing right now and the impact that has on this mission.” said Johnson.
