Chicago is dealing with far fewer migrants these days, and no new buses have arrived in months. But now council members are looking at what the next steps to help new arrivals move on from shelters may look like.
"Only 10% get work authorization. But the challenge we were looking to address is even if you are able to get a job and get income, it's still hard to get apartments right, because the language barriers, because landlords are very discriminatory in certain situations," said Ald. Andre Vasquez, chair of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Friday's joint city council meeting with the Immigration and Housing Committee did not have a quorum, so there were no votes on forming working groups or committees to come up with ideas. But all the money spent on migrant care last year, $150 million, left many Black residents and leaders frustrated as they saw facilities and resources diverted away from their communities.
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Amundsen Park was closed for two months with plans to make it a shelter for new arrivals, but the plan was scrapped after significant backlash.
Those memories make finding new solutions even more urgent.
"We have to come together as a city to discuss how we can take care of both our Black community, our Latino community, and the migrants, and we have to do it effectively, because there's no way that one group should feel that they're left out of the equation," Ald. Chris Taliaferro said.
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This year the city is looking to spend another $150 million, but with a bigger picture approach for those needing shelter.
"We wanted to discuss housing in general," said Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, chair of the Committee on Housing. "Next year the goal would be to have a one system to address the housing needs for all Chicagoans."
"We only had 3,000 beds before the migrants ever showed up, and we have plenty of other people that need housing," Ald. Vasquez said. "The crisis allowed us to expand it to 10,000 beds. I think you keep that or somewhere around that number, and say, these are shelters for anyone who needs it.:
The committee chairs plan to reschedule the meeting for a later date because of the urgency of finding solutions to a problem that is not going away any time soon.