CHICAGO– Chicago plans to close five migrant shelters and relocate nearly 800 people, including families, in the coming weeks to reopen the park district buildings that host popular summer camps, athletic competitions and other community events in time for the summer.
The shift is part of the city’s ongoing struggle to meet the needs of people coming from the U.S. border with Mexico.
Advocates for the new arrivals have repeatedly criticized Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, and argued that available services are inadequate. Others believe Chicago unfairly prioritizes newcomers over longtime residents, including unhoused people with similar needs.
Johnson announced the plan to close the park district shelters this week, saying they were “no longer needed.”
“I am proud of the efforts of my administration, our partners and the many Chicagoans who stepped up to welcome newcomers by providing shelter in our Park District fieldhouses at a time when it was clearly needed,” Johnson said in a statement on Monday. .
“We are grateful to the councilors and communities who have embraced new neighbors with open arms, and we are pleased that these park facilities will return to their intended purpose in time for summer programming.”
Chicago has reported that more than 37,000 migrants have arrived in the city since 2022, when Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending buses of people to so-called sanctuary cities. Many migrants landing in Chicago come from Venezuela, where a social, political and economic crisis has pushed millions into poverty, and where three-quarters of residents live on less than $1.90 a day.
The city initially used police stations and airports as officials looked for other temporary shelters. Some residents of neighborhoods around some of the park district’s field houses have regularly protested their use as shelters since last summer.
On Friday, a city dashboard showed that more than 10,000 people remain in city-run shelters. That’s down from a peak of almost 15,000 in January.
The city has not indicated when all park buildings will be empty, only that it will take several weeks. Volunteers who work with migrants said residents of at least two of the park buildings were told they will be moved to other shelters on Saturday.
Nearly two dozen other temporary shelters still operate in the city, including churches, hotels, a library and former warehouses. The largest shelters are housing more than 1,000 people, while others are reporting numbers closer to 100, according to the city’s latest update this month.
The city aims to move people to other shelters closer to the park buildings, especially families with children who attend nearby schools, Johnson’s statement said.
Chicago began enforcing a 60-day limit on shelter-in-place stays in mid-March. But many exemptions, including for families with school-age children, have meant that few people are actually evicted from their homes.
The city has only reported 24 people leaving shelters because of the caps so far.
Other U.S. cities, including New York and Denver, have used similar shelter limits to cope with the limited availability of resources for migrants arriving by bus and plane. Mayors have also called for more federal aid.
In Chicago, people who have been evicted can return to the city’s “landing zone” and reapply for shelter. Volunteers say this sometimes means people leave a shelter and are returned to the same location.
Volunteers who work with newcomers said they understand the desire to see neighborhoods get park district facilities again, especially for camps and other programs that are popular during the summer months.
But they fear the forced relocation will undermine migrants’ efforts to find work and send their children to school.
“Most people are active and constantly trying to figure out how to get out of the shelters,” said volunteer Lydia Wong. “I don’t know if this will help speed it up at all. The city says they want to keep people relatively close, but it’s extremely disruptive: they have to find new routes, new ways to get to school or work.”
Several people living in the park shelters told The Associated Press this week that they had received little information about the city’s plan, including where they might be moved. They declined to give their names, and some said they did not want retaliation from employees of the private agency that runs the shelters.
On Wednesday, the city said more than 15,000 people have found alternative housing since officials started keeping records in 2022.
Many have sought help from the state. More than 5,600 families have used the program to find housing, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
With some exceptions, such as diplomats and people on tourist visas, immigrants in the U.S. must notify officials if they move.
Asylum seekers in the immigration court system have five days to do this after changing addresses to ensure they receive notifications from the court. Missing mail may not bring their case to an immediate conclusion, but failure to appear at a court hearing could result in them being deported.
___
Associated Press reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed from New York.
