CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Chicago is closing its shelters specifically designated for migrants and merging them with the city’s current homeless services starting in 2025, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Monday.
Under what the mayor’s office calls a “unified sheltering system,” new arrivals to the United States will no longer be guaranteed a bed, NewsNation local affiliate WGN reports. In addition, only migrants who have been in the country for less than 30 days will be eligible for placement in a shelter.
The state of Illinois and Chicago are adding 3,800 beds to the 3,000 already currently in the city’s homelessness services system.
Johnson said this change signifies that the city is able to shift away from the “large-scale crisis response” it put into place after busloads of migrants from the southern border started arriving in Chicago a year ago.
The city is now moving to a more “cost-effective, equitable and strategic approach that addresses homeless for all who need support,” Johnson said, according to WGN.
Migrants were bussed into Chicago, as well as other American cities, by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year in what critics like Johnson called a “reckless” political stunt. City resources were overwhelmed by all the people coming in, and migrants ended up sleeping at police stations and airports.
“At the peak, there were 12 to 15 buses arriving daily and 15,000 beds in operation,” Johnson said.
Since August 2022, WGN wrote, just over 50,000 migrants have come to Chicago. Since unauthorized crossings at the border have declined, though, Texas has not been busing migrants to other states. The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services has previously credited a decrease in crossings to an executive order by President Joe Biden that created restrictions for asylum-seekers.
Dwindling numbers of migrants being sent from the southern border led city officials to begin closing three migrant shelters in September over a period of six weeks, including Chicago’s largest.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that the state worked on the revised homeless plan with the city.
“I think everybody understands we all have the interests of the community as well as the migrants in mind,” Pritzker said.
However, there are concerns that this unified shelter system could lead to more “people on the street,” which a reporter asked Johnson about at a news conference.
“Look, I’ll be remiss if I did not acknowledge the financial straits that we are experiencing right now and the impact that that’s going to have on this mission,” Johnson said at a news conference, per the Chicago Tribune. “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 stretched to the limits. This is why I’m working with our partners at the state to help us, but ultimately, the care has to come from the federal government.”
A nearly $1 billion shortfall is projected for the 2025 city budget. The Chicago Tribune said the city has spent more than $540 million on housing and caring for asylum-seekers since 2022.