Gov. JB Pritzker announces $160 million in new funding for Chicago's migrant crisis
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The state of Illinois is providing $160 million in new funding to help Chicago care for more than 21,000 asylum seekers staying in shelters, at police stations, or at O'Hare International Airport.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced the funding for Chicago's migrant crisis one day after the Chicago City Council passed Mayor Brandon Johnson's budget plan for 2024, which includes $150 million for migrants, enough to cover only a few months of the estimated costs for next year.
As of Wednesday, more than 21,200 asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago since August 2022. City officials said 12,281 migrants were still staying in one of the 25 city-run shelters in Chicago, with 1,831 more staying at the city's police stations and another 572 staying at O'Hare International Airport while waiting for space in a shelter.
The governor said $160 million in surplus funding from the Illinois Department of Human Services will be spent to help Chicago provide shelter and services to migrants, broken down into three programs.
The state will spend $30 million to create a large intake and welcome center for newly arrived migrants, to help eliminate bottlenecks in providing services to asylum seekers and reduce delays in finding both temporary shelter and permanent housing.
Pritzker said the state will also help asylum seekers who don't want to stay in Chicago to get to another destination. State officials said they expect to reduce the number of people staying in shelters by 10% by more quickly sending them to other destinations if they don't want to stay in Chicago.
Johnson has said, as part of the city's new strategy for helping migrants, any newly arrived migrants in Chicago who don't want to stay in the city will be given assistance reuniting with relatives or sponsors outside the city.
The city and state are still working to determine the location of the new intake center.
The state will provide another $65 million in funding to help set up winterized tent basecamps to provide temporary housing for up to 2,000 migrants for up to six months. The city is working on two potential tent camp sites in the Brighton Park and Morgan Park neighborhoods.
The ultimate goal of both the new intake center and the tent camps is to get migrants out of police stations and the airport. Police stations have become so crowded, many migrants staying there have been forced outside in thin tents not suitable for Chicago's winter.
The remaining $65 million in state funding will go toward expanding "wraparound services" the state already offers at the city's migrant shelters to help them with legal services, work permit applications, and other support services while they try to find permanent housing.
As he spoke Thursday, Pritzker accused the city of not moving "fast enough" to ensure migrants have shelter.
"The city's been operating its own methodology process, right? And it hasn't moved fast enough," Pritzker said. "So we've done a complete data analysis of everything that's happened really for the last 14 months to determine exactly where the bottlenecks are, and so we're bringing our resources in to try to flatten out those bottlenecks, make sure that people are moving through faster, and make sure that the city is building shelters faster."
He said the slow progress on the issue is why people have been seen on the street.
"This is a humanitarian endeavor," Pritzker said. "We cannot have people freezing on the streets of Chicago as we head into very cold weather."
Pritzker emphasized that the state does not run shelters, and they are the city's responsibility.
"We've been absolutely encouraging the city to find brick-and-mortar shelter," Pritzker said. "I'm not criticizing, I'm just suggesting that now, here we are. We're right up against winter and very cold weather and we want to make sure that no one is left outside."
Pritzker said the state has been working with the city from the beginning, and has spent more money to assist migrants than the city has.
"I also would say that, to the extent that the city is looking for dollars and not assistance, then it needs to go to the General Assembly and make the case for that in Springfield," Pritzker said. "They have not done that. They did not do that."
Johnson on Wednesday announced the city is planning to impose a 60-day limit on migrants staying in city shelters. State and city officials have said migrants won't be forced out of city shelters after 60 days as long as they are making progress toward finding permanent housing.
Johnson also said part of the 60-day limit would include improved case management efforts and attempts to increase job access for migrants to help them more quickly become self-sufficient.
"Above all, we are treating our new neighbors with compassion, because it is the humane thing to do, because with support they can become productive members of our communities," the mayor said on Wednesday. "We have to make sure that we are setting up these new arrivals with the best opportunity to be successful."
In addition, the city plans to crack down on bus companies that disregard city curfews, loading and unloading rules, or designated arrival locations when bringing migrants into Chicago.