Activists warn Chicago's shift to unified shelter system could make homeless situation worse

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Local progressive groups are urging Mayor Brandon Johnson to do more to help Chicago's unhoused population, as the city prepares to shift to a unified shelter system for both longtime residents who are homeless and newly arrived migrants.

Johnson's budget plan for 2025 would expand the number of beds in the city's homeless shelter system from 3,000 to 6,800, but would also eliminate the city's network of migrant shelters.

However, activists said the city needs 11,000 shelter beds to serve everyone experiencing homelessness on any given night.

As part of the city's shift to a unified shelter system, the landing zone for migrants – their current first stop for finding shelter in Chicago – will start closing overnight, and will close altogether by the end of the year, along with all of the city's migrant shelters.

Starting next year, migrants and anyone else experiencing homelessness would have to rely on the city's 311 system to request a bed in a shelter.

Activists said those moves could worsen the homelessness situation in Chicago.

"No one wants a repeat of what we saw at the police stations throughout the city," said Andrea Ortiz, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, referring to the hundreds of migrants who were forced to sleep in police stations in 2022 and 2023 while the city struggled to find enough shelter space. "No one wants to see people sleeping in tents in the dead of winter with their children."

The activists said funds set aside for development projects like Lincoln Yards should be used to expand the city's shelter system even further.

"An equitable solution would be for the city and state to fund more affordable housing, expanded rental assistance, and rapid rehousing," said Veronica Castro, deputy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.