Next Thursday, the city will release its initial plans to combine Chicago’s legacy homeless shelter system with the system for migrants.
The event, held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 2822 W. Jackson Blvd., culminates months-long discussions between city and state officials and non-profit leaders about how to turn the two systems into a unified shelter structure, dubbed the “One System Initiative.”
Homeless advocates have long championed the move, saying it will better serve unhoused Chicagoans and recently arrived asylum seekers with wrap-around services: employment, food, and health care. Some have pointed out, however, that providers helping asylum seekers may be new to housing and homelessness, which could pose challenges.
The phase one report will be released at the meeting on September 19. It will include the announcement of community recommendations, according to Pooja Ravindran, the chief of staff for the city of Chicago’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Initial planning began in March. The state’s office to prevent and end homelessness led the initiative, and more than 25 community-based agencies participated, a state spokeswoman told the Tribune in April.
State officials said then that moving toward one system would shift “permanent shelter management to the non-profit workforce,” a change from the million-dollar out-of-state contractor currently staffing many of the migrant shelters.
Chicago first opened its shelters catering to migrants in early September 2022 after Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott began sending asylum seekers to the city to make a message about strained resources in border cities. The city’s homeless shelter system is separate and has a different intake system and set of referral services.
According to data Thursday, the city and state are currently housing 5,454 migrants in 17 active shelters – of close to 48,000 who have passed through in over two years.
In 2024, like the previous year, the city set aside $150 million to house, feed and care for them. But facing significant budget constraints and a slow-down of arrivals in Texas, city officials announced plans this week to close three shelters with migrant families on the South and West Sides.
City officials told the Tribune the closures were made in anticipation of the unification of the two systems. They say the one system proposal will provide thousands of beds for people, regardless of whether they’ve been here for five days, five years, or their entire lives.
nsalzman@chicagotribune.com
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