Chicago eliminates migrant-only shelters, 'landing zone'

Chicago is shutting down its migrant-only structure strategy and merging it with the city’s accepted stateless structure system.

The Windy City is besides closing its "landing zone" for migrants wherever recently arrived migrants get structure placements and different resources. The landing portion volition adjacent astatine the extremity of 2024 and is present lone unfastened from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., arsenic opposed to besides being unfastened overnight. 

The moves travel arsenic the fig of migrants arriving successful the Windy City continues to drop. At its highest successful late-December, the metropolis was lodging astir 14,900 migrants, but that has fallen to astir 5,000, per reports. 

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is shutting down its migrant-only structure strategy and merging it with the city’s accepted stateless structure system. (Vincent Alban/Getty Images)

The overhaul volition spot 3,800 beds added to the city’s existent stateless services strategy of 3,000 bequest beds successful a caller strategy being labeled arsenic the One System Initiative (OSI). The caller strategy aims to streamline operations and trim the precocious outgo of operating the migrant shelters, which person stretched the city’s budget. 

"We are shifting to a much cost-effective, equitable, and strategical attack that addresses homelessness for all who request enactment successful the City of Chicago," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said successful a property merchandise announcing the program connected Monday. "This modulation is successful enactment with the crisp diminution successful migration to Chicago and our existent fund realities." 

The property merchandise states that the OSI is simply a "unified sheltering strategy to service each Chicagoans" which volition instrumentality effect by the caller year.

Johnson took a swipe astatine Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott who began busing thousands of migrants to the Windy City successful 2022 due to the fact that of its sanctuary metropolis presumption arsenic Texas struggled to cater to an unprecedented surge of migrants arriving successful the Lone Star authorities nether the Biden-Harris administration. 

"We fought backmost and showed the satellite conscionable however welcoming we tin be," Johnson said astatine a property briefing, per WTTW.

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People locomotion extracurricular a migrant structure connected the Lower West Side connected March 11, 2024, successful Chicago.  (People locomotion extracurricular a migrant structure connected the Lower West Side connected March 11, 2024, successful Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))

"The efforts astatine the Texas borderline by Republican Governor Greg Abbott were meant to destabilize welcoming cities similar Chicago, but the metropolis responded with assemblage attraction successful welcoming astir 50,000 caller arrivals," the property merchandise states. "The Johnson Administration is arrogant of the City agencies, assemblage partners and authorities entities who successfully responded to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis."

Chicago has received much than 50,000 migrants passim the existent crisis, galore of them families, according to CBS.

With the metropolis inactive lodging astir 5,000 radical successful its migrant shelters, concerns are being raised that determination volition not beryllium capable beds for migrants erstwhile the caller strategy is successful spot and the crisp Chicago wintertime bites. But migrants who get into a stateless structure volition nary longer look evictions.

Johnson had attempted to rise $100 cardinal by hiking taxes connected properties worthy much than $1 cardinal successful his "Bring Chicago Home" ballot measure, which yet failed. 

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More than 1,000 immigrants crossing the Rio Grande successful Eagle Pass, Texas, past year. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott bused thousands of migrants to the Windy City to woody with the crisis. (John Moore/Getty Images)

The situation has truthful acold outgo Chicago taxpayers astir $200 cardinal since the situation began and the metropolis is facing a $982.4 cardinal shortfall successful 2025, according to WTTW.

"Instead, we tin lone encumber what our fund allows," Johnson said, per WTTV. "But ideate the summation successful our capableness if Bring Chicago Home had passed."

"Could this pb to radical connected the street? Look, I’ll beryllium remiss if I did not admit the fiscal straits that we are experiencing close present and the interaction that that’s going to person connected this mission," Johnson said.