Courtesy of Chicago Latino Caucus
On June 10th, the City’s new arrival shelters began to evict families with children from its shelters, in accordance with the Mayor Johnson’s 60-day Limited Stay Policy, which held off on evicting this population en masse until the school year ended. With an uptick in reports of new arrivals sheltering in parks and on the streets, we need answers regarding the ways in which the combined money for fiscal year 2024 from the City, State and County– $230M, $182M, and $70M respectively– are being used. City Council approved the extra $70M from the reserve fund balance in April of this year on top of the $150M budgeted for FY24 because the Johnson Administration gave its commitment in preventing unnecessary homelessness and displacement of new arrivals. In addition, the City applied on Wednesday for an additional $34.1M of FEMA Shelter and Services Program monies to keep up with operational costs. The Latino Caucus is disappointed to see the underutilization of the new arrival shelters– only 6,937 beds currently filled of the 15,000 that the three municipalities had committed to operating through the end of 2024. The members of the Chicago Latino Caucus call upon the Johnson Administration to:
• End it’s 60 day Limited Stay Policy to account for drops in new arrivals and create more humane extension periods
• Begin to track and report the destinations for new arrivals who have been evicted
• Brief the Latino Caucus on the City/State/County migrant mission plan including the DNC/summer surge contingency plan
• Update the New Arrivals Mission Cost Dashboard with projected spending through end of year
