clear bags not tinted in color that do not exceed 12 by 12
by 6 in will be permitted in our subject to search all food
and beverages including in metal canisters are not
permitted cell phones must be placed on silent prior to
entering the meeting room individuals must remain seated
public comments speakers are permitted to stand only when
providing public comment small handheld devices may be used
only while seated and the user must refrain from
interfering with the viewer hearing of other individuals
individuals or groups failing to adhere to these rules will
be asked to see such disruptive conduct and failure to
comply will result in there being subject to removal from
the meeting by the Sergeant at Arms.
City of Chicago city council rules of conduct for public
meetings 2023 to 2027 pursuant to the Chicago city council
Rules of Order and procedure rule 49. The sergeant-at-arms
sets forth the following rules of conduct to be followed
during the public comment period and the duration of all
committee and City Council meetings profane vulgar
threatening abusive or disruptive language is not permitted
demeaning discriminatory or harassing behavior and speech
directed towards others is not permitted disruptive
behavior, including disruptive or disrespectful conduct
hearing others presentations is not permitted banners
flyers or signage are not permitted backpacks large bags
and sharp objects are not permitted clear bags not tinted
in color that you
not exceed 12 by 12 by 6 inches will be permitted in our
subject to search health food and beverages including in
metal canisters are not permitted cell phones must be
placed on silent prior to entering the meeting room
individuals must remain seated public comment speakers are
permitted to stand only when providing public comment small
handheld devices may be used only while seated and the user
must refrain from interfering with the view or hearing of
other individuals individuals or groups failing to adhere
to these rules will be asked to see such disruptive conduct
and failure to comply will result in there being subject to
removal from the meeting by the sergeant-at-arms.
Mic on.
The committee on immigrant and Refugee Rights will now come
to order. Uh today. We have 1 item for discussion on the
agenda. No votes will be taken. The item was introduced by
me. Uh 0 2024-25
at this time, we'll begin the public comment period
uh, the period is limited to 30 minutes out of respect for
everyone's Time Each speaker is limited to 3 minutes remote
speakers will comment first followed by those in person as
of 10 a.m. Monday, July 22nd, 2024, uh, zero callers have
requested to speak at the committee on immigrant and
Refugee Rights. So we will move on to in-person speakers.
Our first speak. Yes.
copy of your ordinance
Yes, we can get that copy for you. Okay? Thank you.
Absolutely. Thank you.
Um, okay, uh, our first speaker will be Elizabeth Laura.
Uh, if you want to check if you want to get the mic closer.
Okay, they're working on it right now. So not yet.
And I'm sorry your name is there you go. Uh Alderman Andre
Vasquez. Thank you. Hello, first time. Um, I am here
because I have befriend befriended a number of immigrants.
They're your that stay at the Islamic shelter on Irving
Park Road, and I am just I'm looking for in for information
to learn how I can help them particularly a single mother
with 3 children. She's been there for 11 months.
And I just I have nothing to give her no information and
she's not getting information from the shelter.
So
That's I'm here to learn. Do I have a qu? I I really want
to know what's the plan. What is a single mother with 3
children young children? You know what?
What are the options here?
That's all I got.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next speaker is Zoe Lee.
Um
I was on my way here this morning and I was speaking to my
Uber driver who was telling me that um
Her son black man. Can't find any work. And when he does go
to some of these temp jobs like last year when this black
man filed a complaint with eeo C because they had the
blacks the blacks stand outside while they only gave the
Latinos work and they won that they won the the the black
man won that complaint won that lawsuit and that's the
problem. It's no black and brown and y'all know it's not
know black and brown.
Beatus you are terrible as this deputy mayor when it comes
to this immigrant rights. There's there are families all
over the place. You talking about the lady with with with 3
kids.
And and the shelter if we've been there for 11 months,
she's going to continue to stay there because they get
money.
Okay, it don't go to them these politicians still the money
and that's the problem.
over 2 billion dollars has been spent on this Ponzi scheme
and they're all over the place because the politicians
steal the money.
And y'all Gary and y'all are giving this election to Trump
because you guys not only are displacing black Americans.
the Obama Center for sure in Englewood
You know the stop organization has let y'all know that I've
seen 3 black seniors out here with cups.
Asking for money because they can't get jobs because if
they get jobs their social security may be taken away,
which is crazy because there's a question. Um or going
around asking if these new on these new these new
immigrants can receive Social Security. They didn't put a
dime into this.
None of this makes sense.
So I'm trying to tell you you there you guys have no plan
you guys have no plan at all. Majority of you are racist.
It's no black and brown and it's not going to be no black
and brown. It's a few but they not in here.
No plan. There's no plan ma'am.
Thank you for your comment. Uh next up is Annie Franco.
Good morning, everybody. Um, my name is Annie Franco and
I'm a CVO case manager at Spanish Community Center. Um at
the moment we are we are supporting new arrivals by helping
them find School enrollment English classes public benefits
such as Wick and bttc benefits.
We have centered dignity and respect at our work at our
line of work with recent arrivals. This means offering Case
Management Services. And um
Sorry into the individuals and families that are so so they
could become self-sufficient. Right? Uh, the 60-day
eviction policy has made it challenging for us and the
families to continue to do this type of work for them.
Um in the time that I have hoped, um recent arrivals apply
for vttc. I have seen the the process being rushed for them
not only to um add stress to the families, but also us and
make it difficult for us to obtain the benefits.
Um in this line of work that they qualify for since mail
regarding public benefits is often sent to the first
shelter that they arrived to families often have to visit
government agencies in person to change their addresses.
This is challenging for them when they don't have bus
passes or cars to get to where they need to get to.
Um male always comes with questions or proof of Eligibility
and set deadlines when they have to submit the required
documentation.
We have seen individuals and families being denied for
benefits because they did not receive the mail and have
been unable to submit the required documents for their
benefits. This is this in turn makes them even more
difficult for them to reach the self-sufficiency to leave
the shelter on their own accord.
That's why I asked the city and the state to end this cycle
by lifting the 60-day eviction policy, um and investing in
a system that provides comfort and not despair whether the
recent arrivals are struggling with homelessness have seen
that people want to be self-sufficient.
They just want they just want and need our help. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Uh, the next speaker is uh, Raquel
Perez.
Hello, my name is Raquel Perez. I'm with Chicago workers
collaborative. Um my role in the um, the shelters I'm a
case manager, um in our work with new arrivals we have we
have seen the impact of the 60-day policy affect the kids
mostly, uh, since they begin to feel a bit of stability and
then having to move so soon.
Um, it is an easy for them to transition. Um, they uh, they
begin acting out and they lose friends and then they have
to start all over. Um, 60 days is not enough time for us as
an organization to assist them with their basic needs the
60-day eviction policies that the city and state have put
in place make it more difficult for us to do this critical
work. It means that the families are not able to get the
critical case management that they need on the path to
self-sufficiency.
We join uh many other partners here today to ask that the
city lift the 60-day eviction policy all people deserve
dignity respect and the opportunity to thrive regardless of
how long they have been in this country or their
citizenship status. We know that we as a people have work
to do to reach that point, but the 60-day policy is a step
backwards. We hope that the city will consider the policy
and work with communities like mine to take steps towards
in ensuring dignified housing for all. Thank you. Thank
you.
The next speaker is Emmanuel Mandu Hario Manu.
Good morning, everyone Emmanuel Mano. I'm an SBA case
manager and manager of uh adding to the Progreso Latino.
I want to start off saying that we live in days that time
is considered a Essence where time has a monetary value
we're time determines efficiency and efficacy and a
fast-paced society. We live in days where we seek a
connection with other human beings through social media and
our jobs and our day-to-day activities. We live in days
where we want to create a positive impact in the lives of
those around us. We want to leave a trace of our existence
in time.
At times we stop seeing the power that exists in solidarity
in the well-being of our community and the well-being of
each of the beautiful people who live on this beautiful
planet and with whom we share space and time.
Today I speak to share my voice and use this space.
To advocate for the families we serve with so much love and
with so much joy reality today I seek to raise my voice and
ask for the necessary support for our recent arrival
families.
We cannot continue to think or imagine that 60 days are
enough for our newly arrived families to become independent
or to become self-sufficient.
The processes are long for each of the services that we
provide whether it is securing the approval of a vttc
application the distribution of those services or an or an
ifsp application.
What even considering the completion of school enrollment
forms not to mention the most stressful factor of having to
search for a home to move out to when you only have 60 days
to secure a place and you do not even have a job to secure
the financial means to pay for a deposit and 1 month worth
of rent.
1 must not forget that Financial instability of affects the
household Dynamics leading to domestic disputes and even
physical aggression.
the relocation of children from 1 school to a different 1
also adds to the family's stress levels even more impactful
and highly detrimental is the emotional burden that the the
adults carry due to the uncertainty in their legal
immigration processes.
Lastly can we think about the effects of trauma these
families have to endure as a result of the dangers and
death they witnessed in their Journey from the native
country to the USA in order to have an opportunity for a
better life.
We live in the days where today we can make a difference in
someone's life. We live in the days where we can advocate
for those who have been denied a voice. We live in the days
where possibilities exist and we're and where we can see
and ask for more than 60 days. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The next speaker is Emily wheeler.
Hello, my name is Emily wheeler and I'm the program manager
for an organization called the faith community initiative
that supports vulnerable migrant families by housing them
in faith communities and setting them up for long-term
sustainable Independence and success.
As an organization we are part of a larger Collective of
organizations dedicated to supporting migrants all over
Chicago land called The Sanctuary working group or swg. The
swg as a collective is made up of more than 466 different
organizations and Faith communities and we are the people
who received the desperate pleas for help from those facing
eviction from the city shelters. Those who have already
been forced to leave the shelters and those who have no way
to support their families, even through continued efforts
to find work families who would normally ask us for help
finding an apartment now ask us for tents large enough for
their families. This is not just a safety issue but 1 of
Public Health as well. The 60-day limit is not a realistic
time period for families to get on their feet enough to
afford to rent an apartment the affordable housing crisis
in Chicago is affecting everyone who lives in this city and
those living in poverty have been hit the hardest when you
compound poverty with a 200 day waiting period for work
permits for Asylum Seekers, you get the reality that tens
of thousands of Chicago residents are living every day 1
where they are told
Know at every turn when the thing they want most is just to
work and provide for their families as I'm sure you are
aware. These families want to be out of the shelters just
as much as Chicago wants them to be gone as the city of
Chicago desires to have these shelters empty. We hope that
this reasoning matters to them Chicago is no stranger to
houseless communities, but that does not mean that we
should continue to create the conditions in which they are
forced to exist. No family regardless of origin should be
forced to sleep on the street. The planed evictions will
absolutely lead to houseless families houseless children
because our new neighbors do not yet have networks or
safety nets to catch them organizations, like ours are the
safety nets and we are underfunded understaffed and
overwhelmed with the amount of people who need support the
community-based organizations nonprofits Faith communities
and volunteers here in Chicago have been working to the
point of burnout for years when migrant families are
evicted from shelters the implied expectation from the city
is that community-based organizations can absorb all the
families being kicked out. This is unsustainable.
Irresponsible and will create more harm in our communities
across the city. The limit was able to be extended during
the school year. So why not keep that compassion for
families during the summer the residents of Chicago have
repeatedly stated and shown that public health and safety
are priorities yet. These policies are directly working
against those goals. It is in the best interest of all of
our communities and the families involved to allow
extensions to their shelter stays until they are able to
afford sustainable Independence. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The next speaker is Taiwan Sims.
Good morning committee.
So we hear about the migrant issue.
so
143 million federally
80 million State 72 million from the corporate fund and you
all have
over maybe 2 2 some 200 some million dollars.
That's from the past by the city council.
We speak about housing. I hear everybody.
Oh, man.
So black Americans here in the city of Chicago have been
here have paid to due diligence because I don't like saying
dudes, but paid out due diligence have strived in so many
ways.
For decades now, I'm 44 years old in 2 days. No tomorrow
will be 44 years old.
The things that they speak about what that I just heard
these people speaking about at the mic.
The fact that children are devastated by violence or being
displaced from home to home or all these little this is the
Continuum of our existence here in the city of Chicago.
For the fact that I have now been homeless since July 15th
2021. I came to this Council 7 months ago expressed to you
all about my issue.
I'm 44. I've not left my city. I've not left my country.
There's no place for me to find Refuge or Asylum maybe
Cuba.
But they abolished that thing.
So tell me.
When are we considered like this 143 million federally 72
million. When are those numbers going to be slated to us in
our communities?
When do we have the consideration preferable treatment?
You all are building now another shelter.
That will house 950.
And also wanting higher Park which is predominantly a black
community 750 there have been countless shelters I got into
Shelter instead of a 60-day ban. I was attacked.
And abused and kicked out of that shelter.
So I lack trust in the system, but I also understand that
because these poor people come here and make an opportunity
for other people to gain off that greedy thoughts. Then
these people gain none of the money that you all have got
and it is well over 2 billion dollars.
all for these people
that came so I'm not saying that the poor people shouldn't
get however if we did it in equity if we did it then
honesty and integrity then there will be a change. We
wouldn't see people on the corner with their kids selling
candy. We wouldn't have this committee meeting right now,
but we do in regards to y'all.
leadership
This is what we do with the council. This is what y'all do
with y'all automatic power and the city is doing period all
these organizations 46 organizations. That's a lot of
that's a large Think Tank. However, we still having this
our this conversation. Why?
Thank you for your comment.
Uh, next speaker is Jessica Jackson.
Good morning, so.
you all have
uh, what is this beatrich? Dion and Carlos Ramirez, Rosa
and Michael Rodriguez and Jesse Fuentes and
uh, Maria Haden
just to name a few.
you all have you yourself to thank
for syncing the Democratic Party
you all are done.
You all are done.
You came in and you decided that the only thing that was
going to matter was illegal immigrants. You decided that
all the money for the city was going to go to a bunch of
illegal immigrants you decided that what black people
needed in the west side in Southside. It didn't matter.
The only thing that mattered was that a bunch of illegals
who never put a dime into this city a dime into this
country had everything that they needed we came here for a
year talking about the fact that the city and the county
the country at large is still in black people's property.
And you all gave no concern to that and every time I get off
the Metro ring train and right at my stop it's a apartment
that's been redone for illegal immigrants and they're
sitting there Paran they on their balcony. They chilling
while I'm here every other day fighting for my property.
for my property
you all have sunk the Democratic Party.
Trump is going to get in office and he's going to do
massive deportation. Just like he did the first time he was
in office and nothing would be finer because Americans want
their country back.
Americans are not interested in turning over all our tax
dollars our hard work to a bunch of illegal immigrants for
which most of them are extremely ungrateful that
disrespectful.
They act like we got your answer to them.
But Trump don't straighten it all out because we told y'all
to stop this illegal immigration and you let Rosa.
Cheetah whole city and you'd be surprised how many people
around the town talk about Rosa and what he did and blocked
that Sanctuary City vote.
And then he gets to Parlay in here like he the man.
He then caused all of y'all your seats.
Federal and locally we gonna get you to watch that.
Thank you.
Next comment is alvaria.
This is a tough 1. All right guys, good morning to
everyone. I want to start this off on a positive note and
uh, thank everybody for their efforts because I know we're
all human. We're all trying. We're all trying to make
something work and if we feel differently we understand
that as well now, um,
I don't I'm not going to get into it back and forth. We are
here to talk about the 60-day, uh eviction that we feel.
Uh, I'm sorry, my name is and I'm with uh, BPNC Brian Park,
uh neighborhood Council. I am here to to talk about the
60-day notice how I feel that it's not working only because
I also feel that time is is extremely important, especially
if we just uh, take all the labels out time is an ongoing
thing that just doesn't stop when I'm trying to get at is
if we're trying to connect with these people and trying to
get them to get to a better place, uh of progress.
And and whatnot. We need time right and 60 days notice
giving us a limit to how each individual or family can be,
uh, helped and helped progress in the system that we're in.
Is beneficial if we just delete it completely so we can
actually genuinely focus on caring for these people and
getting them moving forward instead of making it feel like
a system that's in place. Right? Um, so that's a big thing
for me and I feel like if we were to just
uh as a community work together and and really really dig
in not that we haven't been it's just that it feels like it
can get better and it always feels like it get better. And
so that's uh, I have several examples of many clients of
mine 1 of my clients is here today and it just feels like
the whole transferring thing and and moving from place to
place and that it just it's in stable it unstable. I'm
sorry and just for the definition of Right Moving so much
it just being so unstable. It doesn't allow anyone either
neither the clients or the the uh immigrants that we have
or or the workers that are are work, uh case managing or
the shelter, um workers who are also uh doing this on a
daily basis and it it's just like a 9 to 5 that we have to
keep going or 5 9 and then it's also a 24 24/7 type of
movement. So it
It just it just helps to have.
uh genuine genuine love and appreciation for what we're
doing rather than making it feel like a system where it's
just going to be washed and clean and then no nobody gets a
stable. Um,
Chance at life, right? Because it some of these people are
getting uh English classes and do we stationed them there
at uh at Malcolm X or and then they have to move to a
separate a separate place and then they have to commute and
then we have to give out more bus cards to try to like fix
those type of things but it's like it just never feels
stable and and and without stability then I don't think
Anybody can really truly get the best out of themselves.
Thank you guys so much. Thank you very much.
Uh, next speaker is uh zuick Pines.
Is that right?
Uh, it looks like zuick Pines.
my apologies but
I'm sorry.
Uh, he can do in Spanish and if someone wants to translate,
that's fine.
Okay, um.
He's saying his name is John Wick Antonio. Uh Castillo
Perez.
EST, uh, he's also saying that he's he's Venezuelan.
Um, he's passed through multiple countries to get here.
and the
Okay, I've been uh, I left my country 11 years ago, uh left
my family there. They I have a wife and a son.
Um, and they're out, uh my in my country. Um, I am trying
to to get work. I am trying to work. It's really difficult
because of the system and how long it takes to receive my
permit. Um, but it I'm also a professional barber so I I do
what I can when I can uh, it's just very difficult without
um, the permit and the actual um, the resources
I'm very grateful, uh for the uh shelters that I've been in
uh for the people that have helped me. Um, it's very
difficult with my family overseas. I send the money
whenever I can again, it's whenever I can it's very
difficult with the process that that um, the system has but
again, it doesn't mean that I'm not grateful. It's just,
you know, I'm also human so
for
It's very grateful and just appreciate it for the the whole
thing. Um, and so yeah, he just thinks himself and thinks
everyone.
Thank you very much. And thank you for the translation.
Uh, next up is Antonio Jose Reyes Ortega.
this 1
okay.
Good morning, everyone. Uh, my name is Blanca and I'll be
The Interpreter for uh, Antonio.
Ortega
for
your voice
no.
and I and
thank you.
Um name is
and his form Venezuela.
is
really grateful for all the help that uh, everyone. Um,
offers at the uh shelters and uh, he's um,
thankfully he has a roof where where to live a place where
to live and uh, but he's mentioned that he's really, um,
he's really hard for them to get a a work permit.
And they can get a a work a job without a a a job permit.
And um, but he's really thankful that uh all the help that
he's been offered.
And um, he wants to uh, I'm sorry. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
And thank you. Uh, thank you to all the speakers today. I
would like to note that this committee received.
Yeah.
Would the 30 minutes for public comment is now ended?
No, we cut it 3.
Yeah, if you want to submit written public comment, we're
happy to share it.
Thank you.
I would like to note that this
yeah.
Yep. We have 30 minutes for public comment total. So we
went through all the speakers we could within the 30
minutes if you'd like to submit a written comment. We're
happy to accept that. Thank you.
I would like to note that this committee received 4 written
comments and received a fifth, uh of Note 1 is from the
Illinois Coalition of immigrant and Refugee Rights. And
another is from the sanctuary working group. These were in
public comments have been sent out to the committee members
via email.
Uh as the time allotted for public comment has expired the
public comment period is concluded. Uh, we will now uh,
begin a roll call to establish quorum.
I'll start.
uh
members
Okay.
uh older person in dal
uh older woman Gutierrez
Oten
uh alderwoman Rodriguez or Alderman Rodriguez my apologies.
Alder person Fuentes
alderman talifero
alderwoman Cruise
Alderman Cardona
I believe he's here.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez
uh Alderman Ramirez Rosa
Thank you. Alder. Woman Mana hoppenworth.
alderwoman Haden
Vice chair Taylor
and myself present
we have uh, there are 10 members present. We have a quorum.
Are there any non-members present?
Uh, let her know for the record Alderman Hall is with us as
well.
Uh Alder person is Rodriguez Sanchez or
yep, we're getting you uh all other persons right you guys
Sanchez Alderman Moore Vice chair Taylor alderwoman
Gutierrez have requested a virtual option for Committee
hearing attendance due to extenuating circumstances in
accordance with rule 59 of the city council Rules of Order
and procedure and with subsections 8 through uh, D of
section 7 of the open meetings act. Can I get a motion to
allow them to attend this hearing virtually?
uh, so moved by ottoman Rodriguez hearing no objection so
ordered
All right, uh the first and only item on the agenda before
our committee is discussion of 02024 d 0008394 a proposed
amendment of Municipal Code chapter 2-17 by deleting its
entirety and adding new chapter 2172 entitled transitional
Haven guidelines prohibiting length of St. Limitations for
transitional shelters operated by the city of Chicago.
Good morning. It's Steve committee members and members of
the public both in person and watching remotely, uh, thank
you for attending this meeting and which we'll discuss the
current status of the migrant Mission as it relates to
Mayor Brandon Johnson shelter eviction policy the 60-day
shelter exit policy, which is first announced on November
15th of 2023 at a time where there were 12,300 people
living in the shelters and another 2400 living in police
stations across the city, uh, it had been postponed a
number of times out of concern for what would happen to
thousands of people without work authorization, uh, and or
state provided rental assistance who would be put on the
streets by the administration the policy then began moving
forward in March of 2024 for single individuals and
families without children and in June began to include
families with children as well after the end of the school
year.
Uh in March this committee moved forward and passed an
ordinance, uh introduced that mandated shelter reporting
that would ensure more transparency and accountability
related to the exit policy and process that ordinance
passed out of City Council in April. Uh, since that time
the 60-day exit policy has continued, uh, displacing people
and families while increasing the number of unhoused people
in the city of Chicago, uh, currently there are 5,673
people in shelter as of the last reporting 2000 of which
are minors, uh, while the city has a current capacity of
over 11,000 beds. Uh, this means the increase in
homelessness related to this mission is entirely
preventable.
Uh, it is in the interest of this very preventable problem
that we introduce the ordinance to be discussed today,
which would eliminate shelter eviction policies and any
Emergency Shelters that are established, uh, not just for
migrants, but for anyone experiencing homelessness in our
city,
uh, when we talk about addressing homelessness and working
to eliminate homelessness. It is with the understanding
that everyone who's experiencing homelessness needs the
resources and supports that can stabilize their living
situation on a path to permanent housing. Uh, it is with
the added understanding that the disruption of those
supports only exacerbates and increases homelessness, which
has traumatic effects on the individuals and families that
are suffering from it while increasing the cost to the
public to address a preventable problem, uh in this hearing
we hear testimony from those most affected by the policy,
uh, as well as a presentation by the administration as to
the current status of the migrant Mission, uh, and a
presentation on the shelter exit reporting site. Um, we
will begin
With a brief presentation from the city, uh here with us. We
We have commissioner Brandy. Kanazi and Deputy Mayor Batre
pain Leon of the office of immigrant and migrant.
And immigrant migrant and Refugee Rights. Thank you very
much and budget director Guzman as well. Oh, thank you.
Sorry about that, uh director Guzman as well. So we will
let you all take it from here if you want to introduce
yourselves and present.
Good morning members of the committee. Thank you. Chairman
Vasquez Vice chair Taylor and members of the committee. I'm
grateful for the chance to discuss this complex topic since
August 2022. The city of Chicago has welcome more than
45,000 new arrivals. Our staff have worked tirelessly for
almost 2 years to ensure that their arrival are met with
basic necessities including food shelter housing health
care and resettlement supports so that they are able to
safely transition to the next phase of their Journey. This
has put tremendous stress on an already stressed and under
Source shelter system impact impacted by Decades of
investment. We want to acknowledge that the city shelter
system is not perfect.
We do not have the funding to shelter and house everyone in
the city that needs assistance and we wish that we did as
much as we could we need to operate within our means while
also treating each individual and every person with
dignity. We are constantly advocating for additional
resources finding efficiencies and improving processes and
connections to shelter.
While working with our partners to improve the shelter
system and the impact that it has on the quality of the
people's lives that we serve. We are committed to listening
and learning from the community and our partners on the
ground.
As a city, we have a fiduciary responsibility to use the
resources we have as efficiently as we can and we must do
the best we can with what we are given especially in tough
economic situations.
During Co the city the Cook County government and the state
of Illinois came together into collaborate on solutions for
our unhoused population during unprecedented times now for
the new arrival this partnership between the 3 government
entities has become deepened and strengthened.
With such an unprecedented large and complex challenge in
finite resources. It is critical that we take time to
assess how things are going and leverage the lessons
learned about best practices from coid as well as the early
days of the new arrivals mission to create a better more
responsive and Nimble shelter system.
In the presentation we have for you. We will talk through
several key elements of the homeless and new arrival
systems, which will shed light on future planning that will
better for everyone that needs help regardless of how long
they've been in Chicago this type of change does not happen
overnight. It takes thoughtful planning consideration and
strategy.
A lot has happened in the last 2 years and remained
committed to serving everyone in Chicago that needs our
help in an equitable and sustainable way members of this
body. We need your help to push for more Federal
interventions not just by way of funding but to ensure that
Chicago can sustain and to adjust what has become our new
normal.
Now I'll take us briefly through this presentation with my
colleagues the deputy mayor and the budget director next
slide.
So what we have on this slide is really an overview of the
homeless shelter system dfss manages a portfolio of more
than 77 million dollars for homeless Services of which 69
million dollars goes out the door to delegate agencies or a
nonprofit Partners. We fund 50 delegate agencies that serve
clients at 86 sites across the city. We currently have
roughly 3,000 shelter beds. We are focused on triage
homelessness meaning helping people experiencing
homelessness get to a safe stable place. And so we have 3
pillars of work that support this body first is prevention.
We want to prevent people from entering the shelter system
and divert.
Them and keep them in their homes. And so that's where we
use things like rental assistance and homeless prevention.
The second thing is crisis response. We want to make sure
that people entering the homeless system that the response
is rare brief and non-recurring for these individuals. And
so we we want to quickly wrap them in that includes our
shelter system our Outreach Services and other supports.
Lastly, you know, the goal ultimately is that people will
get supported with housing and so rapid rehousing and
appropriate affordable housing is what we do a lot of this
is what we've done with rapid rehousing.
The second thing to note is that we don't do this alone the
city of Chicago dfss. We don't do this in in an isolation.
We work with the Chicago Continuum of Care with this
membership body of organizations across the city that
really buy that support and work with the homeless system.
And so the coordinated entry system is 1 aspect of it to
make sure there's a streamline entry path for individuals
who are experiencing homelessness and connecting to
Services. The second piece is hmis the homeless management
and information system. This is the database that we use to
track homeless individuals. The third thing is really the
standards of care. So the Continuum of Care works together
as a collaborative to say these are the standards which
which we will treat homeless individuals and by which this
body will operate and so I say that to set the stage next
we're going to go to Deputy Mayor pain State lien to give
an overview of the new arrivals update to date.
Thank you commissioner. Oh, good morning everyone, um happy
to be back here to share some updates and also take your
questions and I think as you heard in our commissioners
opening this really has been an evolving Mission, so I
wanted to just give you some top level information and then
um move more quickly to the rest of the the presentation.
So where are we today? We have just over 5,600 shelter
residents in the shelter system. This is from a peak of
15,000 at around um, the the week right after Christmas. So
our numbers have have gone dramatically down. It's a
combination of the number of folks crossing the border and
arriving here and also being able to move through our
shelter system, um in partnership with the state over
17,000 people have been helped to resettle in the area and
the area and several thousand more to move on and reunite
with family or friends and other parts of the country. We
also put a focus on um, helping people apply for work.
Permits through USCIS they came into Chicago did in-person
clinics and over 8,000 applications were submitted. I
believe they're at close to 5,000 of those being approved.
So that gives people a better chance of getting um work
with work permits and we currently have 17 shelters open
you can see in the number of buses that the majority of
buses. Um, you know, they've arrived both in Chicago but
more in the suburbs and we actually have not had any buses
arrived to the city.
Um, since I believe January that as folks, um buses started
arriving in the Suburban communities.
I want to say that we have welcomed over 45,000 people and
they are Asylum Seekers who've crossed the border ask for
Asylum and have been given permission by our government to
be here temporarily. This is a federal responsibility and
our federal government has not stepped up to manage it. So
it has put the burden on cities like Chicago New York and
Denver DC to to do something about it. We have had to
decide what do we do as people come to our city. Um, we
could have ignored it and let people fund for themselves
and probably ended up with a massive, um problem of people
unsheltered and unhoused but we chose to live in the values
of this Administration and the city and to find a way to
develop a resettlement strategy that is both compassionate
and fiscally responsible and I'm going to share um some
highlights of that because I think as you have seen this
has not been a perfect mission it has not
Not always been pretty we've had to make adjustments along
the way we've had to be nimble and flexible and course
correct and build Partnerships that we did not have before
and doing that. Um has enabled us to do this work.
Next slide please.
I want to share 2 cities that are are the the other 2 major
cities, um receiving Asylum Seekers Denver has had over
42,000 people arrived there. They at 1 Point had um
encampments of 800900 people living outdoors in tents.
They've changed their strategy recently to only provide 1
to 2 days of congregate shelter. And then um, they have a
pilot program that is going to provide more intense support
for work, but that will max out at a thousand people so
they are they're struggling to to keep up. This is the
model that they've chosen. They also um, encourage people
to leave the city of Denver New York City has had over
200,000 new arrivals. They are a right to shelter state so
they started by being able to provide shelter to everyone
who was asking for it. They currently have over 65,000
people and their City shelter system that our new arrivals
and approximately another 60 to 70,000 that are
New Yorkers who've been their their whole lives. Um, they
also have changed their policy recently. So they have a
30-day stay for adults with no option to return and then a
60-day stay for families and for young adults people under
23, and they do have an option to request shelter again.
Next slide please.
in Chicago what we've managed to accomplish in this year
and again recognizing it's not perfect and recognizing that
there isn't consensus across the board. We have solidified
a a deep partnership with the state and the county to look
at this as a regional responsibility. Not just the city of
Chicago that was not the case 1 year ago and that is
demonstrated by the funding and the resources that each of
these entities has put on the table in this joint strategy.
We created a system of meeting people's most urgent basic
needs for shelter food Medical Care and then the states
primarily the state has funded resettlement supports like
rental assistance and housing case management. The county
has provided the majority of Health Care through their um
County clinics and then our Department of Public Health has
been a partner with them and providing vaccinations and
ensuring public health for all um in the course of this
work we have
Chicago made a commitment to to really try to bring our
costs down and to streamline this process and help people
move through the system more quickly. If you recall a year
ago, we were struggling with thousands of people in police
stations and airports. So we were able to transition over
3,000 people. In fact, I think it was closer to 4,000 from
police stations and airports into temporary shelter. We
were able to bring down the costs of the work but
by renegotiating contracts by using the RFP process a
competitive process to secure new vendors for food and
shelter and just looking at ways that we could really um,
bring down expenses. We instituted a 60-day limit to help
move people through the system more quickly so that there
was room for new arrivals. We do not know or control the
number of people who come here. They are crossing the
border and at the border the governor of Texas has made
buses available to Chicago New York Denver, um, and putting
people on those buses people are also finding their way
here on their own. They have freedom of movement across the
country. Once they have permission to be here. We as a city
do not control how many people come when they come. Um, and
so what we do control is how we can support them and do
that work in a way that is not just good for new arrivals,
but is better for our city ensuring Public Safety as well.
as well
The we pass the bus ordinance. I want to touch on that
because that did shift how um people arrived to the city.
And then we also have enrolled just about 20,000 people in
Chicago public schools, which ultimately while it is, um
has posed some challenges to our school system. It is
ultimately um going to uh help for us and in building our
school system and expanding the services that we offer.
I want to just comment 1 bigger thing. Is that while we did
this work?
The mayor our city and this Council continued to work do
the work for Chicago that we promised as an Administration.
We were able to pass a 1.25 billion dollar bond that is
going to be used for affordable housing for jobs to really
build the South and West sides of Chicago. We passed paid
time off giving more than 1.3 million people vacation and
sick time that we did not have before in Chicago. We
abolished the sub minimum wage and made sure that people
who are tipped workers, um have a minimum wage many of them
are black and brown women. We have committed and have begun
to reopen Mental Health Centers and expand our mental
health system. We've invested a hundred million dollars in
anti-violence programs many of them Community focused and
we are opening our first ever office of re-entry for
Chicago. So in the midst of handling this Federal
International humanitarian crisis,
The city has continued and this Administration has passed
some groundbreaking, um policies that will make a lasting
impact on the city. My last slide is just to touch on the
fact that we have been developing a contingency plan for
the possibility of a high number of Asylum Seekers coming
to Chicago very quickly. Um, and that plan has come
together through our emergency management office along with
state county and female Region 5. Um, we are working to
secure full funding for that plan, but we will be prepared
as a city if we need a sudden, you know, large number of
additional shelter beds or other ways to support large
numbers of Asylum Seekers coming here our commitment to
keep the 60-day policy in place for now is that we need
that cushion of available beds. We need to be prepared for
any growing number and we have also seen that the policy
while there are some concerns that people have raised and
I've heard them very clearly here today.
Today we have seen the policy work. I will um, pass it to
commissioner. Kanazi to give us more detail about the
60-day policy and share more information about that. Thank
you. Thank you deputy mayor.
The 60-day stay policy was informed by a number of factors,
but it was crafted in a way that allows us to continue the
need for shelter for an extended amount of time for people
to remain within shelter. They can either return to the
landing zone or through the extension policy. Um that
people have received they can qualify for a number of
different reasons and those reasons include, um, a family
can you know be be enrolled in public benefits. They can be
making progress towards their housing they could be uh,
pregnant or taking care of infant care. They could also be
a medical necessity as well as gender-based violence
bereavement. And so we're going to talk through what the
the policy limit does. Um, so far families, um to note that
families with children did receive 30-day extensions
through 3 times through June 10th, 2024 next slide.
And so when the 60-day policy, uh, and people are notified
in shelter of the 6-day policy. They are first notified
upon entrance into the shelter. Then they are given to
check-ins. The first check-in is at 45 days and the second
1 is at a 21-day and so the 45-day check-in is really time
for the case managers at the shelter to really talk through
What are people's plans right they've been here for you
know, 15 days what have they accomplished? You know, what
family do they have and then what are their goals if people
get to the 21-day check-in and they feel that you know,
they don't have onward movement plans that is when a el a
family is eligible to be screened for an extension and so
once they're screened for an extension, um, people can be
possibly granted stay beyond that initial 60 days.
After that, 21 days the person then receives another 10-day
check-in if their search if their situation or
circumstances have changed at that 10 day Mark, they can
also be screened for an extension. There's also a 3-day
reminder and then the day of um, people are asked to exit
the shelter.
next slide
and so this slide is just shows where we are with the
60-day policy. And so what's important to note here is that
um, this is a snapshot and of the people who were screened
at the 21-day Mark 84% of single adults who um made their
single day who made their 21-day check-in actually received
an extension, um for families who were screened at the
21-day check-in Mark 91% who were screened were also
eligible for an extension. And so I think that's just
important to put in perspective that if people meet the
eligibility criteria, they are allowed to receive an
extension.
next slide
in order to make sure that we're doing this in a thoughtful
and coordinated manner people are asked to exit The Shelter
by 2 pm. That way. We're not asking people to leave too
late at night or too early in the morning. Um individuals
are also allowed to leave their belongings at the shelter
for 48 hours. If they're not able to take their possessions
with them individuals are also able to return to the
landing Zone and request shelter at the same location that
they were at if there is space available at that shelter.
Um again at the once they're at the Landing Zone, there's a
process that people go through to be screened if they
didn't get their medical they can go to Cook County Health,
um, however, if people decide that they would like to do
onward movement. Uh, we do have Catholic Charities that is
present to help with resettlement support and onward
movement next slide.
And so when you look at the exits over the period of March
16th to July 21st, you see that there have been a total
number of 1,511 people that have been impacted by the 60
days. And so, um, the lighter blue number is people who
left overall the darker blue number is people who left the
shelter due to the 60-day policy and so you can see that um
um singles on average stayed at the shelter 118 days. And
so this is much longer than the 60-day policy. You can see
for families that
That the average stay at the shelter was 154 days. And so
this just shows that people are receiving extensions.
People are staying longer than the 60 days. But also a
number of people are leaving on their own not because of
the 60-day policy and so average length of stay here is 122
days.
next slide
the data reporting ordinance. And so at the request of this
committee, there was a request for uh, more transparency
more visibility into the data and so the Department of
Family and support services the office of emergency
management and communication and uh our our huge lift to
our partners at the department of technology and
Innovation. They were able to leverage the data that we
have from our systems and so on the data portal here, uh,
all of the data that we have Council public has access to
and so I won't take you through this but we have the links
and we can talk about that. Um later next slide.
And so the 1 System initiative and so as we think about, you
know, moving to The New Normal we've been operating with 2
systems a homeless system and a new arrival system and we
know that we have to get to a point where we are looking at
both systems at 1 and so there has been uh committee that
was launched with about 50 Partners, uh, not just the state
city and county but also individual nonprofit organizations
in different on the ground stakeholders. And so the goal is
really to look like as we how do we make sure that we have
equity for the people who have been unhoused in Chicago,
but we also um Provide support for new arrivals that are
coming to our system that how do we build a long-term
resilient plan and as the budget director will say how do
we work within the means that we have and make sure that
people have access to shelter while also maximizing
outcomes for people the goal that all of us have is that
people will be able to have their own home next slide.
And so the goals again, this is just a summary of what I
discussed of really about building 1 System centralized
coordination collaboration and having 1 standard for both
systems next slide.
So there's a Leadership Council that began meeting, uh in
April of 2024. And again, it's about 50 different
organizations that are doing this and so the work the
organization's and how this committee is set up is that
they are 6 different work groups and those work groups
focus on community integration provider.
support nation data
Training shelter and access and this is all about how do we
see ourselves in the work? And so what's going to happen
over the next couple of months is that this team will be
coming back with recommendations on how do we move forward
with a coordinated system from that set of recommendations
in 2025. We'll begin to build the infrastructure to make
sure that we're bringing both systems together. And so it's
a process that won't happen overnight. It is not going to
be easy. It will be messy. It will be thorny. But the goal
is that once we all come together, we'll be able to see
clearly of how do people enter the system and how do we
make sure we balance the need of all populations while also
managing within the budget constraints that would have been
set by the 3 levels of government.
next slide
budget director. Thank you. Uh again, um Annette Guzman
budget director for the city. Thank you for having me this
morning.
um next slide
I wanted to give us um a view of this Mission since the uh,
Mayor Johnson came into office and just remind us, um of
the
policy decisions that were made to live in our values and
um, make sure that we were we were creating and working
towards um a mission that you know in a resettlement
mission that reflected those values that does come at a
cost. Um, and it has been uh a cost that has been hotly and
greatly debated amongst the city council amongst, uh, our
residents. Um, and quite frankly across the country as
people look at Chicago and how we are handling this
mission.
So when we came into office in May of last year.
I was just under uh, 4500, uh residents that were staying
in our new arrival shelters. Um, that was at a daily cost
of about 484 thousand dollars.
um as the buses continue to come and again as Deputy Mayor
pain said at no coordination or collaboration with the
city, um, the uh number of new arrivals who were sleeping
at police stations and ultimately that were at our airport
skyrocketed to the point where we had upwards of 3,000 to
4,000 that were uh unsheltered.
And so the city quickly ramped up the number of shelters to
house those new arrivals and uh with that the cost
skyrocketed, uh, when we uh ended the year, um in December
of last year,
We had just under 15,000. Um, uh new arrivals, uh within 27
shelters at a cost of 1.4 million dollars a day.
Um, we quickly, uh knew that this was not sustainable. Uh,
there was a lot of conversation during last year's budget
cycle, uh about how to create a system that both mirrored
our values but also took into account our uh, Financial
realities and our fiscal, uh, stewardship of taxpayer
dollars, and we worked um hand in hand with the state and
the county to both uh, share that responsibility
operationally as well as financially and so over the course
of this year. Uh, the city has Consolidated shelters. Um,
we have renegotiated contracts. We have implemented, uh,
Community Based organizations to um, uh administer and um,
operate our shelters and we have also shared the load of
operating shelters with the state, um, increasing the
number of shelters that they operated as we decreased ours.
As of June of this year, uh, we uh, the city has 15 shelter
in operation. The state has 2 with 1 more opening up.
Our current shelter, uh census is just under 5600. Um, and
uh, we have about 677 and we've decreased our daily, uh
cost uh to about 677 thousand dollars a day.
next slide
I want to put that into context because I think a lot of
times people think that that is a cost that is financially,
um supported only by City, uh funds and that is not the
case. In fact in working with our state and County Partners
as I mentioned before we have been able to share that uh,
financial burden with both the city, uh, sorry the county
and the state
While this city council took very hard votes to um
appropriate funding to support our new arrivals, uh system.
Um, we also worked with the county and the state who also
uh took votes to appropriate dollars from their budgets to
support.
To date we have received, um over 59 million from the the
the state to support our new arrivals Mission from their 24
budget.
We've received 70 million dollars from the county from
their 24 budget and we have appropriated and received $19
million from the federal government. I want to highlight.
How little money we are getting from the federal government
in comparison to our own budget our state and our County
Partners.
in addition to that we um are scheduled to receive another
49 million from the state from their 25 budget that was
allocated as part of the 1802 million set apart in their FY
25 budget.
and another 10 million dollars from the federal government,
uh within um,
a pass through from the state from the federal, uh, FEMA
Grant
Uh, so another 59 million is set to come to support this
mission.
I want to be very clear that this 426 million funding stack
is just the funding to support the city's shelters and
operations. This is not include the amount of funding that
the state itself is, um combined to put into this full
mission to support not only their operations, but the
wraparound services that they provide within city and state
uh shelters.
Um in all its over, um, almost 700 million dollars, uh for
the entire operation for fy24.
um
In addition to um this funding you'll see on the next slide
that um, we have uh, we have accumulated some Surplus, but
we're also still uh have a funding Gap that we uh to
support the mission that we are hoping that 59 million that
I just mentioned from the state's budget and the federal
government will um, uh will achieve
um, the uh, funding, uh Surplus or uh Salvage that we uh
acrew over the course of this Mission will go towards the
planning that we are currently doing to support the uh, The
Surge that we fully anticipate will happen in the coming
weeks.
Uh, we heard it ourselves during the uh, Republican
National Convention from the governor of Texas himself. He
is planning to send buses to the city of Chicago.
Irrespective of the fact that we have a bus ordinance
irrespective that municipalities throughout the Illinois
region close to the city of Chicago also have bus
ordinances and so that surge, um, uh isn't currently funded
but we anticipate working with our state and County and uh
partners that the Salvage that we um are accruing right now
will be able to cover uh, The Surge that we anticipate
Happening, um, uh in a in a couple of weeks.
and so with that, um, I'll turn it back over to the
chairman and I do have to say that I do have to leave so
any budgetary questions can definitely come to me, uh
through the chair.
Thank you very much, uh budget director.
All right, uh next uh, we're thankful to hear directly from
new arrivals who have been uh evicted or soon faced
eviction so you can hear directly from them and ask them
any questions. Yes.
You want to ask a question before she leaves?
All right. Um.
You want to go man? What would you say is the per day cost
per migrant?
uh a day and has that changed from
Uh May of last year. It's actually a very complicated
analysis. Um, and it does change. Um, as we change the um
configuration of shelters. Um, and the number of new
arrivals that are in our shelter. Um, I can get you the per
day per uh new arrival cost, um, uh through the chair but
um 1 of the things that we as uh commissioner Kazi has said
we've learned a lot throughout this Mission, uh 1 of the
things that you'll see if you look at our shelters is that
they are uh, we have reduced the capacity within our
shelters because having very large shelters and then
A lot of people accumulated in 1 place, um causes um, public
safety concerns operational concerns and so forth. And as
you decrease the number of beds within a facility the per
person per day cost can actually Rise um, and so it uh,
at our height when we had very large, um shelters our per
day per person cost was actually um lower um in some
shelters, but as we have shifted towards, um, looking more
at um decreasing the number of people within 1 location.
Um,
That has actually uh slightly increased the cost in other
places. So, um while overall our per person per day cost is
lower now than it was in December. Um, when you look at it
against, um, you know, the number of shelters we had in
place and the the fact that a lot of those shelters had a
lot of beds in them. Um, it might look deceptive, uh that
the per day per person cost has decreased but not by a huge
amount, um because of that and when you look at that number
or those numbers compared to uh, what we're spending on the
homeless population in general do are those numbers
comparable.
Um, so the difference here is that we have more beds. Um as
commissioner Kazi said earlier are unhoused shelter system
that is operated by delegate agencies, which is actually a
lower cost as well than um, how uh, we are currently
operating our new arrival shelters that's capped at 3,000.
Um, we have shifted our new arrivals, uh mission to be
operated by um, uh Community, uh, based organizations
delegate agencies, uh to are currently operating 2 of our
shelters and we are in the midst of finalizing contracts
with I believe 6 more. Um, so that'll shift. Um, the cost
downwards overall because we have 15 shelves right now, uh
with um, 10,000 beds versus our uh, unhoused shelter system
with only 3,000 beds. The cost is not comparable.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, uh next uh other person
Rodriguez and if people have questions specifically for the
budget director, we'll have those right now and then
continue with presentation after
Curious, um given that the expected surge that I believe
was budgeted for know the surge was not budgeted for my
understanding when we went through these conversations was
that there was an expectation that over the summer we would
need more capacity and that was baked in um to the to the
to the budget
Um is so help me out here. No, so the The Surge, um that we
uh anticipated is above and beyond the model that the state
county and the city, uh put together. So, um early this
year we came up with a model of 1501300010, uh, 7,000 beds
over the course of 2024, um to follow what we thought was
going to be the trajectory of the number of new arrivals
coming to the city and that's what the budget was based on.
We have anticipated, uh through discussions, uh with uh
people at the border. Also what we see happening at the
border and the comments made by the governor of Texas that
we would need upwards of 25,000 beds. And so, um the Delta
between the 15 and the 25th The Surge and that was not
accounted for in the budget.
right, but we're we're we're we're a third of
um, even where we were
Budgeting and right right. So we have shelter capacity with
open beds because of what was budgeted for and that would
be let's say we did see a sudden surge. I think we go to
those beds first when those are maxed out then we've built
out like an additional 9,000 beds 5,000 that would be City
run and then another 4 that would be State and County
potentially. That's what the additional funding is for.
that we yeah, and I should just say um
Again, there's no coordination with the state of Texas. But
at our height in um, October November December we were
seeing arrivals about 2000 a week. So if you can imagine if
you received the same amount in the next few weeks how
quickly those 5,000 beds would go, um that we currently
have actually less than 5,000 beds. Um, and the need for
additional, uh beds on top of that.
Um, that's what I had for you, um budget.
director
I'll come back. Okay, thank you very much. Any further
questions for the budget director or we continue?
No, thank you very much, but director Guzman.
Okay, uh next we are thankful to hear directly from new
arrivals who have been evicted or soon faced eviction. So
you can hear directly from them and ask them any questions
or experience. They will give a brief testimony and then
you will hear a translation. Uh, we'll have them identify
themselves by name before beginning their testimony.
So house now stay in Spanish. Uh
Leggo number
Uh, we will have H Santiago a company with uh, Dulce
Grenada for translation.
Yeah.
Number is Santiago.
Chicago
gracias
Good morning. My name is Dulce translating to to Santiago.
My name is Santiago. I am from Ecuador. I arrived in
Chicago with my family 2 months ago and in that shelter.
At this time. I have my work permit Social Security and
state ID, but it's an impossible for me to find a job for
this reason companies require experience. I have attended
that last 3 Jobs first, which have a been organized by the
city of state for new newcomers.
But I went arrived at this job first. They give me a papers
to apply and from there.
There was no immediate respond to work.
The only things I find are 2 months that virtual and
in-person training programs so that I can get work in the
future. That could could take me 2 months.
And in those 2 months who support my family how good I
become.
Independent since I have to leave the shelter in 60 days.
And it's not enough time to be able to become independent.
I asked the city of Chicago emphatically and asked father
to extend the 60 days depending on the situation of each
family and to organize dialogues with the companies that
need the sole lab labor. So that the people who
Had documents can get an immediate job to integrate Us in
society and stop being a burden to the city of Chicago and
the state. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Uh, next testimony will be by Monza, uh with translation by
fasika. So uh proximal persona.
Thank you, uh before I introduce Monza. I just wanted to
give a preface. So I'm with the United African
organization. We are 1 of the organizations who've been
working.
To support Asylum Seekers to get on their feet to access
legal services to apply for immigration benefits like
Asylum and TPS, uh to navigate employment and secure stable
housing. However, based on what we've heard from our
community members, we feel that we believe that the 60-day
policy um is not only not realistic right based on uh dfss
numbers. It takes them about 150 days to become
self-sufficient. So why the 60-day policy is our question,
um furthermore if 60 to 70% of people are cycling back, we
believe this creates a harmful disconnection for support
that meant for many times maybe people re-establishing
those supports if they have to
Change shelters particularly for families. We we feel that
this um is a harmful uh policy and so we were here to to
share 1's a story and about her experience. Um, but also
asking the city to reevaluate and uh, perhaps uh use a case
by case basis to provide shelter. Um, and then here's some
ones
um
Due to me there.
in opportunity
V
Hello, my name is Monza and I'm from Angola. I came to
America seeking Refuge. I had to leave my home my family
and my children suddenly because my life was in danger
arrived at the Austin shelter here in Chicago on June 4th
of this year 2024. I'm told I have to leave the shelter at
the beginning of next month when my 60 days are over.
Yes living in the shelter is not easy. The sleeping
conditions is hard. The toilets are unsanitary. There's no
privacy the food is different and hard for me to eat at
times and the shelter manages discriminate against us.
But if I have to leave the shelter, I'm on the streets of
this new place. I don't know yet. I have no family. No
friends who can support me.
I'm still waiting for an opportunity to apply for Asylum
and I'm not eligible for TPS. I'm not able to get housing
support because the programs have been closed. I am willing
to work and help myself, but that I do not have work
authorization yet.
I'm here to ask that the 60-day shelter policy be removed
for the sake of the many vulnerable migrants like me. There
has to be a better way. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
uh next uh, we will be presenting on the shelter eviction,
um ordinance initial findings, uh and reiterate resources
created in place on the website. So we'll get into the
presentation. Um, before we do that. I'd also like to for
the record, um state that we have older women Ruth Cruise,
uh with this year for attendance and core. Thank you very
much.
All right.
So, uh, we'll go over the agenda. We're um, discussing
shelter ordinance, uh shelter reporting ordinance. I will
go over some of the background some data points current
trends and then go over the welcome to Chicago or website
which has information on database in order for us to get to
questions. I will try to do a speed round of this
presentation.
Um, so the ordinance requires that the dfss to regularly
report on new arrival shelter exits to Alders in the
public, uh, once this passed, uh, I believe in April out of
city council, uh, we partner with dfss, uh, mayor's office,
uh, DTI, uh, and uh, legislative intergovernmental Affairs
to really put through what questions we wanted to collect
how we would communicate them, uh, which led to some
adjustments as to buy weekly and bi-weekly reporting which
we're able to show on the next slide.
So reported weekly, uh on, uh, site our shelter exits, uh by
gender age country of origin shelter, uh, or original
removal date and date of removal to show where the
extensions are, uh, and bi-weekly, uh, a reporting of the
shelter census. Uh, the number that come into the shelter,
uh, the amount including the amount that have been
previously removed from shelter. Um,
also a number of grievances filed and resolved number of
individuals accepted from removals and the number of
removals per day.
Uh, so current trends are pretty similar to what was
reported by the office. Uh, we actually had it a couple of
days earlier than they had. So you're reporting had a
little more numbers. Uh, so we had over the last 30 days
407 of the uh, folks in shelter exiting, uh, the total UH
60 exits, uh is uh, 1,476 at that time to kind of show some
of the trending there.
You go to the next 1 please.
Uh, so out of that we then looked at the total return to
Landing Zone, uh and saw that was 877. So looking at our
numbers kind of similarly, uh about between 58 and 60% of
those that were removed from shelter then returning to
shelter.
Uh, next slide, uh Trends showing, uh the country of origin.
origin, uh, so by far and large just like the population,
uh, Venezuelan followed by Colombian Ecuadorian, uh, and
the other ones as follows,
um the sheltered data portal itself
Uh, you go to the data city of chicago.org and search
emergency temporary shelters that will give you regular
reporting, uh for the Alders, uh who may want to check on a
regular basis and for the public as well.
Uh, and then uh, if you go to welcome to chicago.org,
that's the Committee website it has that along with other
Trends. It's got uh, um different events that are
happening. So we know there were TPS workshops. There were
know your rights workshops that are happening in the areas
closest to the shelters at the shelters, uh themselves when
possible. Um, so all the information on that other Trends
other information, uh, some of the um records from the
different committee hearings all are on welcome to
chicago.org for anybody looking for it, uh, next slide. Uh,
and what's also at it is a list of databases that provide
services for the shelters. So we know that a number of us
at the beginning of of this whole mission were really, um,
somewhat dependent on the mutual Aid groups and the work
they were doing uh, what then was kind of fleshed out
developed where all the different organizations on
different parts of town offering Support Services to the
shelters nearby. So, um, this is actually a really good
resource for uh City Council Members because we get people
who come to our office.
Asking for the support systems people who have come from the
shelter people who?
Have never been at the shelter at all, but have arrived to
their country looking for resources. So I would definitely
recommend that to our colleagues. Um as a resource when you
do have people coming, uh seeking help. Uh, so that's also
on the website. Uh, yes.
And this wraps up our part of the presentation, uh, we will
now open it up for uh questions. Uh, I will actually
reserved my questions and let our colleagues go first. So,
um, I first had all the person Pointes and then all the
person had an after all the woman had
Uh, we're writing it all down then Rodriguez then Hall.
Thank you, uh chairman and Deputy Mayor Vaughn commissioner
Kazi and everyone in the Box. Uh, I want to acknowledge.
This is you know, a tough conversation. I think that uh for
the last year, uh, we've had to take tough votes, um have
had to
have tough conversations listen to anti-immigrant
Sentiments while grappling with the reality of the
historical disinvestment of black Chicago and having a
grapple with how we do better.
I am fully aware that we have done everything possible. Um,
I'm also aware that you know, we are doing better than some
of our other major cities. I mean if if folks have gone to
New York, right? I was recently there this difficult to get
a grasp of the migrant issue in New York.
Um, and I can imagine that the new policies that Denver has
implemented has also caused other chaos.
I also know that we're not perfect. Um.
I don't believe that we're trying to be I believe we're
trying to do our best.
And we have been able to shift policies and create systems
when we have critical conversations with 1 another when we
call each other in and make recommendations and produce
solutions that are better for the city and for the new
arrivals that are coming to the city of Chicago. I also
understand why there is an eviction policy.
Um, but I also want to elevate some of the things that
fatigue has said and that it takes about 150 days for
individuals to become self-determined self-actualized and
self-sufficient.
Since the evictions have taken place.
I have at a hyperlocal level in the 26 Ward about a dozen
new tents with new arrivals who have been evicted from
shelters.
Who are now coexisting with individuals who have
experienced homelessness for years?
And it has been difficult to mitigate and navigate. Um, you
know, we've had a tent set on fire.
Uh demanding for folks to leave the park.
And so I I want to be able to have critical conversations
just about how we do better while anticipating what we know
is going to be a slam in a very short order of a few weeks
when the DNC comes.
How are we supporting folks in the shelters while
understanding that we need to make room for the individuals
that are coming while not exacerbating homelessness? I
don't pretend to sit here and have the answers because I
don't
but I do know we must engage in a conversation to be
better. And so I'm not here today to point fingers nor to
create uh, chaos and and have a ton of criticisms. But to
say I want to be a part of a conversation that allows us to
be better.
Uh, because August is going to be difficult.
It's going to be tough, uh with the amount of buses that
are coming.
and with the issues that we already have right and so today
I look forward to to having that conversation. But I I'll
start this conversation is is there any room to change the
60-day eviction policy?
Thank you. Alderwoman. I think first just acknowledging the
complexity of we already had a very fragile homeless system
and then we added to that a very layered and complex new
arrival system. Right and it's and you can't predict, um,
you know with the homeless system, we we're we're Bound by
funding and funding comes from multiple sources and it has
very, you know strict requirements in the new arrival
system. Right? We're we're really working with our partners
of trying to get coordination and buy in and so here's what
I can tell you. What we know works is that shelter is not
supposed to be the end all be. All right, people are not
supposed to be in shelter indefinitely and what works is
housing. And so how do we know that works? We have an oig
report from our accelerated moving events and rapid
rehousing and we've been able to have you know, 2,800
households through Rapid rehousing of which 900 were
unhoused Chicago and so we know that that is the North
Star and we know that we have to make sure we're supporting
new arrivals not just with making sure that they have work
permits, but they see a path forward. And so I think right
now what you see is doing is we don't have a crystal ball.
We can't predict we need to make sure that we keep a decent
number of beds available because we don't know what will
happen and you know next month in August and when we heard
like there was always suspicion right that this could come.
but then when you heard what governor Abbott said it was
like we have to be focused but knowing we have to be very,
you know, judicious with the funding that we have. And so
what you see is trying to do is balance the responsibility.
No 1s to see people living on the street that is never the
goal. But we're trying to balance a lot of very fine things
and a lot of you all go back to your communities and you
have to carry that and so many of you have helped us carry
the water and so we we have to wait through the end of
August to see what will happen before we can make different
decisions. And I don't know Deputy Mayor if you have
anything else to add. Um, I would I would add that we were
very conscious of uh, maintaining stability through the end
of the summer in anticipation of changes. So any changes
that we were were to make you know, it has a ripple effect.
It's a big system. There's 5,000 over 5,000 people in it,
um and and several.
Hundred if not over a thousand staff. So any changes to the
policy would would take a while to implement? Um as we
looked at the 60-day policy the mayor directed us to look
at it and to talk to stakeholders. We did have
conversations and decided to make a recommendation that we
keep it as is and I said this earlier for now because I
think that you have seen we have had to be nimble and
course correct throughout this whole mission as we go into
our budget season.
Um and into the work that we're doing with the city state
and County to think about next year. We will be revisiting
all of the this policy like how many shelter beds can we
sustain? Um, what is the work that we're doing to move
towards the 1 System where we're merging systems that will
that will take multiple years, but there will be some steps
in that direction as early as this next fiscal year. And so
looking at the 60-day policy can be examined again, but I
think that right now we wanted the stability. We don't see
a high number of people, um, living outdoors and as we get
reports of families in particular dfss responds very
quickly to make sure that they have the option to to that.
They know they can solicit uh shelter and I just want to
point out and I think chairman Vasquez because of the
testimony. Um,
people who have exited the system
due to the 60-day policy can go immediately to The Landing
Zone and because there are beds available. They can be
placed back families can be placed right back in the same
shelter and adults, um are going into other shelters as
well right now. Anybody who seeks shelter has a shelter
bed. So there shouldn't be people um necessarily who are
becoming unhoused because of the 60-day policy, uh,
You said?
Thank you, Deputy Mayor. So I know that we've uh talked
about folks going back to the landing Zone.
When folks face their eviction from shelters, are they
transported back to The Landing Zone?
Transported so individuals have to make their way to The
Landing Zone on their own and then they are brought back to
the shelter from The Landing Zone.
What?
From The Landing Zone. Where is the farthest shelter?
That's it, and we have shelters across the city. So you
have you know further north AIC you've got Super 8. So, I
mean, we're all across the City Southwest Side. Yeah.
Because I can imagine for folks that have come to a city in
which they're extremely unfamiliar having to go from a
shelter back to a landing Zone with no transportation.
They can get lost.
right, and I I hear that necessarily we shouldn't be seeing
folks be rendered homeless as a result of the evictions,
but we are the numbers may be may not be astronomical
right? Like I don't know what those numbers are. I do know
that in Humble Park. We have a dozen cents of new arrivals.
And so there is like this shuffling that's happening
whether they're not making it back to the landing zone or
they do make it to the landing Zone and don't get a bed.
There is something happening that I think that we have to
resolve for. And again, I don't pretend to have the answers
today only that we need to have the conversation to resolve
for it and commissioner. I do want to thank you and your
team that they were just out yesterday in my tent
encampment right looking for for young children to make
sure that they're sheltered so I know that that when I'm
calling you you you respond then I I appreciate that level
of responsiveness as we're working to get better.
You know earlier this year. We we decompressed police
stations and we decompressed Parks. I do know that we have
a number of beds available today that number may increase
or decrease before the DNC. Do we anticipate our police
stations and park districts being flooded again?
The goal is that we'll be able to use the beds that we have.
So that is really why we are holding where we are because
we don't want to go back there, you know, the the work that
we do with our homeless Outreach and prevention team many
of you have called on dfss to come out and engage and so I
think I'll say a couple things 1 if there are families with
children living in a tent. Let me be clear that is illegal
and we are very clear We There Is No Gray Line that is a
hard line that we take and I take that very seriously and
our teams are working day and night to make sure some
people try to elude us but we we found a couple families
and we will continue to do that because that is not a dfss
that is a law with the, you know Department of Children and
Family Services so we can continue to do that. There are
some adults who don't want shelter. We see that in our
unhoused population. We said that in our new arrivals, but
we continue to offer right we know that it takes 7 to 10
times to engage. We are creating a team specifically to
support Outreach.
Efforts designed specifically for the new arrival
population and I think we will continue to do that. But
what becomes really hard is when
you know, we allow people to go into Parks, you know, that
becomes very challenging. And so the reason why we have
made sure that we are we have enough beds right before we
have to go into that extra level that the budget director
talked about. We have to maintain these beds, right? It
gets very difficult in the winter when we know we
Have extreme weather and all types of weather weather
emergencies, but now I think we're fortunate. We're in
summertime. The weather is nice and so withholding these
beds and making sure that we are leveraging the 60-day
policy allows us to not hopefully go back to where we were
in December where we had thousands of people in police
stations.
I I just want to add that in addition to the capacity that
exists we have built out additional capacity to avoid and
prevent the police stations from becoming a default site.
So, um, you know, there's a application to the FEMA for 34
million that would be used towards that surge capacity if
we needed it. Um, and there are additional um savings that
we are using from the system potentially for that. So it is
beyond the the existing shelter beds to add to a higher
amount. I do want to point something out that I think our
budget director alluded to but in the traditional shelter
system because we only have 3,000 beds. There are no
shelter limits there but there are only 3,000 beds and so
people don't have access to additional beds in this system.
We have managed to create a system that at 1 Point had
15,000 residents in it, but there is a 60-day limit and yet
many people so that there are limits in both systems that
we but we have managed to
Be able to help have people who need shelter have that
temporary shelter for Beyond 60 days. Right? We we've heard
that the average is over 120 days, um, maybe 150. Um, so so
there are limits in both systems. Ideally as we work
towards the 1 System initiative to bring both of them
together. We will land on the right balance of beds that
are available and accessible to anyone who needs them and
that have, you know, the the resources needed to support
them on their journey to um have their own permanent
housing.
Thank you deputy mayor.
because
every Democrat across the country is about to be in the
city of Chicago for the DNC has there been a conversation
um with the folks leading the DNC and the current
administration at the federal level about the type of
support that they can give the city of Chicago knowing that
the buses that are going to be sent here are purely
politically motivated. Yes several conversations. Um our
application for that surge plan funding is significant and
we have people advocating for us to receive the the request
we made that request. It came only from the city of
Chicago, but with support from State and county in the past
when we applied for those FEMA grants the state also
applied for money and then we would have to kind of have
them give it back to us this time around it was just 1
application and it's very well known that um Chicago would
be using it for
this purpose in addition to that there have been numerous
conversations around the DNC and we have asked for other
ways and other things that are federal government could do
to mitigate against any type of a surge. Um, I think the
response depends on you know, who you ask in terms of the
concrete, um resources that they're bringing and definitely
something that we can continue and others should advocate
for as well.
Thank you. Thank you chair.
Thank you. Uh next up we have uh Auto woman had
thanks chair. Um sticking with Alder frontes this last
question. Um,
it's it's good to hear about and you guys have been
fantastic about going after every amount of I know Federal
Grant and resource and advocating. Um for the last several
years. What about the Democratic Party?
Um, so right there's government money, but we know that
this convention is the Democratic party. Um, so I'm
wondering what funds have come directly if any from the
Democratic Party.
I'm not aware of any but I am not you know in that circle
in terms of um our IGA efforts, so we should definitely
bring that back and give you an answer. Yeah. Just
wondering right you know, like if the Rolling Stones were
coming, you know, I might expect them to pay something too.
Just saying. Yeah, um, uh sticking to the budget piece and
I know I missed budget director. So if you guys don't have
this, um, this could be through the chair request, but I
know um commissioner Kazi, you know 100
100% on the same page with you about the solution being
housing, um, a big proponent Advocate and uh, my ward
certainly is benefited a lot from our accelerated moving,
uh events and the rapid rehousing programs. Um, uh, as you
mentioned funds that we have that go through our
traditional system and come to your department, of course
for our uh, traditional population of people experiencing
homelessness is highly regulated and very limited. Um, as
we weren't able to pass bring Chicago home and get a
dedicated source of funds, um from new revenue for this.
I'm wondering how much of the funds that we have dedicated
to the migrant Mission have gone towards accelerated moving
events.
Provided through the state of Illinois. So that was Ida, um
that provided that so that was a separate part of money.
That didn't even touch the city.
I you answered my question, but I don't know if um the
fully with my intent. Why aren't we or are we able to use
money that we both we as the city forget Ida forget.
The federal government forget FEMA but we have directly put
funds into the migrant mission right out of our money. How
much of that money are we using if we have used any for
Accelerated moving events, and I and I mean this as a way
as we're entering budget.
And we know we don't have new revenue for this. We know
we're obligating all of our kind of arpa funds and I I know
you know better than anyone that we're going to have budget
constraints and with a great concern for making sure our
unhoused population gets access to housing. Is there a
reason why we aren't using um some of the funds for the
migrant mission towards accelerated moving events, that
could be serving everyone. Here's what I can tell you,
right? We've used about 70 million dollars for the
accelerated moving events 35 million in carers and about 35
million in arpa funds that will take us roughly through the
end of the year we have in our budget roughly 17 million in
the team may correct me that is our base corporate funds. I
think we're going to continue to show improve that
accelerated moving events work. I think what you're seeing
is the 1 is really where we're trying to bring. We've got a
pot of money over here to manage new arrival.
Shelters and I think what we're having conversations with
the county and the state is the the separate is not
working. And so it's not just about access to housing but
it's also about we've quickly stood up new arrival
shelters. We've gotten a lot of comments from homeless
providers of you know, you've got 1500 homeless Chicagoans
living on the street. Why hasn't you seen that the that
that intent to open shelters? And so that's why we're
having these conversations of saying
All right, we haven't caught our breath but things have
come from where it was of the frenzy to now say let's how
do we think strategically about what does the future of
this system look like and I think what you will see in this
new initiative is that there will be 1 System where we look
at both or both entities coming together for us to serve
people and using multiple funding sources.
And and I'm sorry if I missed this part of the presentation
when I stepped away, um, when and I know August is the
looming thing, but from the OSI working group. Is there an
estimate on when we are going to be able to see this and
will it be in time for a decision-making during budget? I
think that's we're still working through it, right 50
organizations. Not just the city and the state and County
coming together. I think you we should see a loose Outline
by October but I think we will start to see what that
framework who looks like um in the beginning of 2025. I
can't say exactly how pretty and neat it will be but I
think people are ready for a change and they're
Are ready to start with something. The question will be I
think our intent is that we can start to make decisions in
time for Budget. Um, but, you know, when you're bringing
lots of different entities together, we have to make sure
realign
um
Thank you for that. Um, this is more a comment and it's
nothing new that I haven't said to you guys already. Um, I
you know both recognizing the difficult tasks the work that
you've been doing. I deeply appreciate both your leadership
and all your team. Um, and it's also still really
frustrating. Um, I know we've had many parts of this
conversation to know that we have beds and we have people
who are you know, still sleeping outside and I know that
temporary shelter is different from housing and also, um
from the beginning of it's been, you know, multiple years
now. I've been an advocate from the beginning for an
integrated system and
I'm glad we're going to get there eventually, but it's
deeply frustrating to see that we we could have integrated,
uh funding system before we could have done this
differently. Um, and we chose not to under the previous
administration. Um, and now we're here, um, you guys
struggling right and preparing for August and what will be
another difficult situation. Um, I hope your teams are
ready. Um, I guess 1 question there would be what is that
emergency Staffing plan going to look like um for August
and
And do you have like are you being given the support that
you need and that Staffing plan and are there things that
we should be aware of so there's a couple things going on
right 1 of the things that we're benefiting from is that
the census and the shelters are low. And so we have the
Staffing that's their we're also working to make sure that
we can bring on staff and send like the bat signal in 48
hours. So some of our temporary staff a significant portion
of them were local to Chicago and they've already been
vetted with background checks. So that's a good thing. Um,
we're also working to award. Um, some of the existing
shelters about 6 to new providers, so to transition from
favorite Staffing to cbo's and you know, that that's that
takes time, right? You know, some people have not
necessarily been in the shelter business. We have 2, you
know, really good providers right now bright star and Cleo
who are uh known to us in our Human Services world, but
they are new to uh new arrivals and shelter period
And I think you we've seen them really grow and take this
on with open arms and I I hope that with this next round of
rfps that we did that we'll see that same level of
excitement and energy that they're bringing and I think
people are
You know, we don't sleep at DFS. Um, but but that just is
part of you know, we stay ready, uh and be able to flex uh
as needed.
Yeah, I just want to reassure you. We've been doing pretty
significant planning for this and included oemc. Imma from
at the state level. Um, the County Emergency managers FEMA
Region 5 DHS, idhs, um the city different agencies and as
the plan came together it again it is built off of the
partnership with the state and the county so all of us have
a role and then the funding that's going to come together
is also a a shared combined funding but all of the um, the
Staffing the logistics, you know, the supplies everything
that's needed is coming together just in case in a best
case scenario and there is no Surge and we we were prepared
but didn't have to execute. Um, I think that will put us in
a good position to look at
as we go into the fall and winter, you know, and and um,
look at this Mission what we what else we can do with the
funding if we have any funding that's available and I think
that's where we might make shifts like what you were
describing about. Um, you know, these are other types of
supports and so I think I just being hyper prepared.
You can be confident that that is the case and then also
just being open to the the possibilities and I want to add
1 more thing about the 1 System initiative. I think we have
to also it started before our chief homelessness officer
started and her her charge is to build a 5-year plan that
includes stakeholder input and a variety of um, uh, you
know folks to help design that and so that will also be
feeding into that plan and that's you know, as we we find
ways to make that alignment is is has to be taken into
consideration. So it it has slowed things down maybe a
little bit more than you'd like, but I think it's in the
end. It'll make for a better a better product for our city.
Gotcha. Thank you for that and just to be clear. It's not
about what I like or don't like either right like and I
know you guys know this because you you eat sleep and
breathe it every day and I appreciate your dedication, but
I think it it's all about the the need um, not a
preference. Um 2 more pieces here.
1 1 1 um to 1 of our commenters. Um
uh, and my my French is a little rusty but um
the discrimination claims, um, in addition to our guests
today speaking of the Discrimination that she's faced in
the shelter. Um, I know we've also gotten reports still of
our lgbtq community, um facing a lot of discrimination as
well, um working with constituents in my own Ward. Um,
Particularly at the Super 8, um people complain to us about
discrimination. And you know, when we visited this some
months ago the processes for reporting just seemed really
insufficient. Um, right like you got a report to favorite.
Well that's like, you know reporting to the system and
expecting that system to police itself. Um, I know that you
know on a Case by case basis we've been able to work to
address different issues, but I don't want to have to do a
case by case basis of special intervention right to work
with people who are being harassed or discriminated against
so I'm wondering what is the current process and what are
you guys doing to ensure that these people we are paying
millions and millions and millions of dollars to um aren't
mistreating people. And where's the accountability for
them?
so 1 just you know cases of discrimination we take very
seriously and so there is a portal where people can submit
their grievances too. Um, the what we've done, you know
over the last several months through this body is we've
been able to hire staff to replace favorite and so the
Grievances are coming to our team. So maybe Danny why don't
you talk about what the grievance process looks like.
Uh, Dani Castaneda Deputy Commissioner for new arrivals. Um,
I think I I want to start by saying that um, the grievance
process has certainly evolved over time. I think what we
have seen is that the process that we have established,
which is the QR code process that the commissioner was
speaking to people are engaging with that process every
day, which I think to us says 2 things. Yes there continue
to be issues that we need to address. Um, but 2 that people
are leaning into and are aware of how to elevate their
concerns and our engaging with
uh, the structures of care and responsiveness that we have
established I think for us it would be more concerning if
we weren't receiving concerns via that process because 1
I'm not going to assume that we're actually doing
everything exactly right. Um, I would instead assume that
new arrivals in shelter are not aware of that process. So I
think it's a good thing that people continue to engage with
it and are actually submitting their uh concerns via that
process on the receiving end when someone does submit, uh
agreements via the QR code, uh, we do have a resident
grievance coordinator that does the initial, uh response to
it in the case is where they're not submitted anonymously
that Resident agreements coordinated will engage with the
resident directly in most cases. We are receiving the
Grievances and honestly anonymously, which I think is okay.
That's why we built it into the system. Um, but in the
cases that they're not we want to make sure that the
New arrivals specifically sees someone on the other end. So
it's not just a virtual option to raise a concern to to
know where uh, we meet on a very regular basis to look at
those trends. Like where are we seeing grievances coming in
from what are the topics that people are are raising is it
related to staff? Um, and then we've worked with favorite
Staffing to ensure that their staff are being trained on
anti-discrimination cultural competency, especially given
that new arrivals are really
Which you can see from the 60 exit data, especially they're
from across the planet. And so we are now a provider as
city government our provider of shelter and continue to be
and have for 2 years. So it's going to continue to evolve
we'll continue to improve we have not been perfect and
certainly not easy, uh to to meet the needs of such a
diverse group of people, but we'll continue to do that and
we'll continue to work with not just our staffing agency of
favorites Staffing but our new providers that are doing
this for the very first time first time.
Chair, if you'd permit could we ask our our 2? Um
Guests who gave testimony uh through their interpreters if
they are aware of the grievance process in their shelters.
Thank you, actually, um, I appreciate the segue. So, um,
they have a limited time and wanted to make sure that if
any of the members had questions for them as well to
definitely ask them. So yeah, if you want to ask the
question again, and we've got the translators there.
So the question for our guests and and for both of you
would be are you aware of the grievance process? So if you
have faced discrimination or had complaints, um, have you
seen this grievance process in the shelters with the QR
codes? Um, and it's comfortably as you feel answering, of
course.
No.
You don't know nothing about.
about the Forum
Form, yeah.
Same for us. We she was not aware that there was a process.
Okay, so thank you. Thank you both for that answer and to
The Interpreter for asking so it sounds like we still have
some work to do and I'm wondering Danny if we can make sure
um, at least our current shelter resident gets that form
before she leaves here today. Um, I would appreciate it. Um
my last question, uh to wrap this up. Um,
Less of a question and not to again. I'm not trying to be
an ass today. Um, it's completely wildly unacceptable that
we're not transporting people back to The Landing Zone. I
just want to say that
like it's wildly unacceptable.
Like you don't get to kick people out and tell them they
you can get there if you can get there, um and not
them we've created this system and that should have been a
have been a part of the design. Um, if I were to look at
this from a design perspective, I'd say this system was
designed to not make it easy for people to get back to the
landing zone. So knowing that we created the system and we
designed it.
That's what that says to me. So I'm just purely system
design your intentions aside, um reality aside and I think
about where I am on the far Northeast part of the city and
where people would need to do go to get the landing Zone
and knowing that I have families with children and not to
like knowing the the emotional and psychological defeat
that people are going to feel and being kicked out and
having to work with people who are being evicted and then
you've got to haul all your stuff and your kids and all
your kids stuff right back to The Landing Zone to what go
through a terrible process again, that was a rough
experience and maybe it's better now. Um, we should be
providing transport to people to The Landing Zone if they
are choosing to go back to the system.
Thanks. Sure. Yep, thank you very much. Um before we
continue do folks have any other questions for the the the
guests who are here, uh in the Box
No, okay. Thank you so much for your testimony and for
answering questions. Um, see what's your address for the
uh, I don't know French so merci. Thank you. Uh Alderman,
uh Hall has requested a virtual option for Committee
hearing attendance due to extenuating circumstances in
accordance with rule 59 of this.
I'm here. I'm here. I'm here other person is Hall Andel. I
think you have requested a virtual option for Committee
hearing attendance due to extenuating circumstances in
accordance with rule 59 of the city council Rules of Order
and procedure and with subsections 8 through D of section 7
of the open meetings act. Can I get a motion to allow them
to attend this hearing virtually so moved by ottoman
Rodriguez hearing no objection so ordered, uh, next up we
have Alderman Rodriguez.
All the person please. Sorry my problem. Oh.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Um.
thank you for uh
for the whole panel for being here. Um, I'm not going to be
labor the point. I think my 2 colleagues said it. Well, I
feel very much the same about the tensions and the actual
outcomes. Um,
of which your efforts have led to
the the presentation just brought on some new questions to
me that I thought I I get to first. I'm just interested in
what's going on in Denver, um and them not and them having
a 1 to 2 stay kind of policy. It seems
and I'm just curious if we keep track of their numbers and
their data when it comes to those experiencing homelessness
there and whether we know if their what their Trends are in
that City.
Couple things maybe perhaps more. Can you talk about the
numbers of homelessness in Denver? I will say Denver has
made a from the beginning of this they made a very
deliberate choice to not take on the new arrival Mission
and to
bus individuals out if you recall there was a time when
Denver was busting people to Chicago and we had to follow
them out and say wait, you know, we are an ally, you know,
that's not going to work but I think
government agencies make different decisions of how they
want to spend their dollars and they have made a decision
that they want to make it as difficult as possible. I was
recently at the National Alliance to end homelessness and
talking to other cities, you know.
Cities are are saying Chicago is getting it. Right right
again, we're not perfect. We're doing a lot more than other
cities who are being busted DC was like it we put it on,
you know, the nonprofit sector and the nonprofit sector
said that you know, they were buckling because of it. They
won't even take in singles, right? They will only support
families and so cities have made different decisions based
on the funding choices that they have but I don't know
more. Do you have the pit the point in time count numbers
for Denver for the homeless?
um
Yeah, I think so. I'm sorry. I'm looking at yeah, so Denver
more Molly managing Deputy Commissioner, uh for dfss, I
have their 2023 numbers. I don't think they've released
2024, but it was around 5818. So not too far off from
Chicago.
New York City is the um, it was mentioned in the
presentation has a right to shelter. And so they're
sheltered numbers are hundreds of thousands, um, because
until they implemented their policy they were building and
making new shelters available. They're unsheltered numbers
are much lower because of that right to shelter but even
New York is working to uh enact legislation to do away with
their right to shelter because of the flow, so I think
Cities are reacting differently to the the inflow that they
are experiencing. I just just just just really quickly for
reference. You said that the numbers of homeless were
basically comparable between Denver and Chicago.
Um, Denver Denver was 5. Oh
Sorry, sorry on its homeless homeless. Yeah, their point in
time count last year. Our point in time count was 6139
somewhere around there their point in time count. Last year
was 5,800. Yeah. The reason I ask is their population was
what again?
713000 in our population has 2.7 million. So I'm just higher
right. Yeah. I'm just trying to compare the homeless
discounts on that. I just wanted for reference. Thank you.
I think
I know that we looked to other cities um for Best
Practices. Um, and I think a lot of cities are looking at
us for breast practices as well. I think you made that
point earlier and I and I and I do think there are certain
things that we are doing much better than others. I think
it's very hard for me to say we're doing a great right? I
mean how what happens here? That's great.
Um with that said, I do think that um,
particularly as it relates to the today's topic and the 60
day eviction policy. I do want to have contextually what's
going on. I was elsewhere where they've implemented some of
these policies or don't have um, or essentially have a a a
day 2 eviction policy which it sounds like to me. It seems
like you want to say something but I well just what I saw
in Denver and they're they are um talking very positively
about their new approach because they which when I hear it,
I think it it's convenient and we see people from Denver
coming to Chicago so they they in essence took away any
shelter say Beyond just a couple days, um, and they have a
select program for up to a thousand people that where
they're going to do like wraparound services and work force
development and and that's great. But that's it. And so
Their biggest push is to get people to go to other cities
before this. They did have a well-known encampment of all
new arrivals. It was about 800 people they had to you know,
shut that down and and remove everybody they've struggled
with that. Um, I think they started trying to have a hotel
stays because that's what they were doing for other
unhoused people in Denver, but they quickly found that that
was hard to sustain and maintain so I I think um,
Yes, when we look at Best Practices and you're right. I
mean, we this is not a perfect system. But but people are
looking to Chicago not just locally in this country. But
even internationally we've gotten calls from other places
Canada. I've been conversations with Paris with um cities
out of Japan. It's very interesting. I think what they're
seeing is we have 45,000 people. We don't have Asylum
Seeker migrant encampments. We have been able to connect
people to some rental support and resettlement again, not
perfect but are doing more than many other cities and what
we've actually developed is almost like a refugee
resettlement program without the dollars that come with
Refugee resettlement. So, you know, you all have heard us
say in the same period we've we've had over 35,000
ukrainians, but they come with Refugee status and all that
that includes we've figured out how to provide something
similar with State County city and a little bit of federal
support.
so I think
Transparency is key. The Data Tracking that we have is key.
You know, the simple fact that we receive weekly updates is
a great thing. I'm able to look at and see where my shelter
is at locally where we're at systemwide, you know going
March 29th from 1021 individuals to July 19th. 5,673 in
Chicago shelters that comes direct from the reports that
we're receiving. All those are are receiving weekly and I
appreciate that it
The context that I'm coming at this is I hear older woman
Alder Fuentes say that she sees 12 new uh tents in her Park
I hear you say be um, you know, you're not hearing about
any um,
You're not hearing about increases in homelessness
individuals experiencing homelessness. And I think I just
want to be able to track that and get to the data points
like thinking about where our sister cities are at Denver
seeing what the impacts of our policies are really truly
indicates how we need to move as far as policy changes
concerned and we are considering a policy change here.
We're talking about policy change here. So I'm just trying
to get to some of those data points, um commissioner, so
maybe let me just say this, right so I would say that
pre-pandemic going into 2019, right? We were at 5,290 for
our point in time count in 2020. We were at 50
5390 and then we started to see declines right because of
the infusion of pandemic relief funds we started to see all
of the efforts we talked about the encampment strategy
rapid rehousing our homeless numbers were going on the
decline in 2022. And again, these are rough numbers. The
count was 3876. I would probably say it was closer to 4,000
homeless people that we had.
2023 is when we saw the first shift that we went back to
numbers that we had in 2009. So in 20203 our point in time
count was 6,139 that meant that we had 2,973 unsheltered
homeless Chicagoans and we had 2,176 new arrivals in
shelter with about uh, couple hundred maybe that's I can't
read the number, uh about a thousand people living on the
street who were unsheltered homeless Chicago Ones
The 2024 number we're at 18,000 836 people now granted we
had you know nearly in January close to 12,000 people in um
shelter. It was actually 13,000 but the numbers have still
increased. And so I think what you're seeing is
All of this the increase of new arrivals. Yes. There is an
impact that not everyone will want shelter and some people
will be outside and we see that in the number that about
200 new arrivals in January were unsheltered because they
choose it and I think what we have to do is really work to
say what does this new system look like where we create
beds for homeless individuals where we make sure that we
have a strong Outreach system that we can reach people but
that we have Pathways for folks to go. And so I think the
5-year plan that the chief homeless officer is working on
is really important. I think funding for housing is really
important. But I also think coming together to think about
the 1 System initiative. Everybody's not going to be happy,
right? We are going to have to make significant investments
in technology because all of the Just in Time technology
and reporting that we want it comes with a cost and we have
to invest in that infrastructure, but I think we will be
better off because we'll create a system where it's not
people don't feel it's new arrival.
Versus existing homeless Chicago Ones where it is 1 system
that people can go I think people feel frustrated sometimes
when they call 311 because they're like 311 is broken. No,
it's not broken. It's we don't have enough feds and I hear
your frustration and all the women had no, well, you need
to provide transportation, but I also hear the budget
director who tells me you need to live in a budget and so
there's choices that we make there are no good choices, but
This is where we are and I think the goal is that.
we want to make sure that we are prepared for the DNC so
that we it takes a lot to swell and create shelters on the
Fly, you know, even a week's notice like you've got to get
people in like you stand them up. And so I think what you
see is us doing is trying to make sure that we're as best
prepared with tabletops with Staffing so that we can meet
the moment and and make sure that we present Chicago in the
way that we know we can I'd also add just on the experience
experiencing homelessness.
And I think the Chicago culture for the homeless would
chime in and you know, I know I experienced in my ward
significant number of double UPS triple UPS people living
in somewhat unhealthy environments or significantly on
healthier environments, uh and making that choice and I
think that that's also a concern that I have. Yeah, um and
granted I was just in my shelter. I you know, I find it
very difficult to even think about my family staying on a
cock in a in a in a in a small area enclosed in what was
formerly, uh a retail space see, um,
We'll leave it at that as a retail space. That's not a
factory. It's not my word. Um, but
You know those challenges are things that we're grappling
with I think about the fact and this is go I think to older
woman Haden's point.
you know, I think about how I I was impressed in my shelter
where they have tried to acculturate our new arrivals in
that they have maps of the city of Chicago. They have maps
of our CTA system and then they have large maps of our
neighborhood points of interest ways to get around and
engaged. Um, I was really impressed by the local
individuals who worked there who are engaging folks. I'm
not sure that that's the case, uh, uh, uh shelter
systemwide which leads me to also be very worried about our
strategy right now to ask people to
upend themselves go to the land The Landing The Landing
Zone and then potentially coming back the familiarity
people build up with when I think about the way I choose my
housing where I live where the way other people choose
their housing where they live it has to do where they feel
comfortable where they feel like, they've um created
routes. So I am also I want to I want to add my voice to
the thought around can we do this better as far as um, uh,
if we are going to keep this policy, you know, how can we
make life better for folks? And then also I do want to know
a little bit more. I'm glad all their Fuentes went through
this, you know,
Know kind of like how does this happen? I do want to know
how does it happen once folks get the landing Zone. Like I
know a lot of folks in my shelter have really deep deep
roots. Now in my neighborhood are they assured to get back
to that same shelter? Um, how is that decision made? Yes,
so let me just say a couple things right in the homeless
system when people are requesting shelter. They have to go
where there's an available bed. They could be living in uh,
an encampment on the North side, but the available bed is
on the south side and you take the you have to take the
first available bed.
Um for so that's just how that system is set up because of
the limited availability for the new arrival system what
the team does and I'll let Danny and Glenn talked about
this Glenn is from oemc of they try to be very intentional
to make sure that when someone is requesting shelter when
they come back to The Landing Zone that if the bed is
available at the shelter that they came from and they want
to go back there that they're able to get their in
transportation will take them back commissioner just real
quick. I would also say I just want to be careful here or
not careful, but I think you're talking about the system as
it is. Yeah, and and in the current budgeting constraints
that you have I I I I understand that but we should also be
thinking about the system as we ideally want it to be
right. So like I want to have that aspirational aspect to
this as well. And and we are I I just want to say that we
really are and I think that that's my invitation as we look
at this budget season and all of you have a role in we all
have a role in the
um
as we we wanted to be as stable as we could be through this
summer and then really revisit at the end of the summer in
september the system as a whole and a and a reminder that
it is city state and County. So they all have they have a
say as well because the funding is a shared funding pool
the services that they offer, you know, a lot of the
resettlement services at the state, um offered like rental
assistance and housing case management, it doesn't exist
anymore. Um, there's also the Illinois welcoming centers
that are funded by the state and the SBA organizations.
They're doing a great job, but they're Limited in the the
depth of the you know, um case management that they can
offer. So I just want to remind us that this is is not just
the city of Chicago and we are constantly looking at ways
to improve this the system that we're building because it
is for the long term. This is not going to change like the
the migration patterns have changed and they will keep
changing people are still leaving their countries we might
see
Climate refugees that has been raised before and just in
this month we've seen, you know, incredible weather
situations. So we need to be better prepared. But um, I
think that it is an ongoing it is an ongoing exercise and
real quick. So so once a person gets to The Landing zone or
a family gets to a landing Zone. Um, how do how do you
assess where they potentially go if they want to get back
in? And then also my understanding is that they're provided
Transportation at
At that point what? What does that look like? Yeah, so
let's do
Let's do 2 things.
Glenn and Danny keep Glenn. Can you talk about what happens
when people get back to the landing Zone? And then Danny?
Can you also talk about a lot of the work that we do with
parks and the case managers to make sure people know about
social activities events park district and all of the maps
so that it's consistent across the 17 shelves.
Uh Glenn Lyman deputy director at oemc. So, um prior to
individuals coming back to The Landing Zone The Landing
zone is notified of the number of 60-day exits and the
names of those 60-day exits. So when they show up at the
Landing Zone, they their information is taken it's matched
up to what was expected so we know what shelter they're
coming from what their names are the family makeup and
everything. So at that point they're put again on the wait
list.
And any emergency needs are met at that time if there's any
uh, and then they're escorted over to the intake Center
where they go through the state side of the intake Center.
So they they're offered onward Movement by New Life, uh
Church, they are assisted with uh onward movement if they
wanted that with Catholic Charities, um, there's 3 meals a
day provided down at the Landing Zone. Um, besides other
necessities of um,
Uh, you know, baby formula. Um, um,
Hygiene kits, you know, all that stuff is provided down
there then they they go through the medical tent, uh, if
and their check to see if they're up to date on the
required vaccinations for Sheltering and at that time then
they uh go through Cook County Health, uh screening, uh, a
basic medical screening and then at this time because of
the low numbers what we've been able to do is we transport
them to Belmont. Kraan Monday through Saturday to finish
that uh, complete physical um and health screening in case
they didn't catch that when they were in the shelter before
and then from Belmont Craig and they are transported
families are going back to the same shelter that they came
from
I hope that helps you.
And is it pretty much it's fairly consistent. They're going
back to the same shelter.
yes families are
unless they don't want to but that is their first option to
go back to the same shelter if there's space there and
what's it what's distinguishing between singles then? It
seems like that's
Singles at at this time, um are going back to the available
bed space that is we rotate through different shelters, uh
that are um run by the state or the the city so we can
evenly distribute it.
Okay, I have lots of questions. But uh, we'll we'll catch
up with what you what you all. Oh, go ahead.
Um, yeah, I think you had a question about like what we're
doing to support the community integration pieces that the
piece commissioner that you wanted me to speak to. Um, I
think first and foremost, we we've created this is
low-hanging fruit, but I think still critical for us to uh,
encourage folks to seek resources and public spaces and
green spaces, especially, um around the shelter, especially
given the nice weather. Uh, we have Flyers that we've
created in multiple languages to really inform residents,
whether they've been with us for a while or they're brand
new of the at least 3 neighboring Parks, including the
programming that those parks are able to offer for them,
especially because they're either free or extremely low
cost, uh, which makes them very competitive and popular,
um, both among Chicago and but including our uh, new
arrivals and shelter, so those flyers are readily available
so that folks again know where to access this programming
especially, uh know how to access that programming nears
the shelter.
Okay. Yeah, thank you very much. Um, I know I have a number
of questions. I'll submit some of them do the chair but I
think some of the things that our colleagues are bringing
up. Um, uh, I wanted to follow up on before we go to the
Future to other folks that have questions. So, um, I really
do appreciate kind of the point being made right? None of
this system is perfect. There have been things that clearly
other cities are not doing that you all are taking on. Um,
so I think we should be appreciative of that. Um, I also
really, uh want to thank otter woman had an in really kind
of focusing on some of the design of the process that
although things are never perfect. We're always seeking to
improve things. And so I've got questions kind of related
to that.
um
So we know that that people are leaving, uh, the shelter
60% are coming back.
um
Why is there not or or has there been discussion on
tracking of the 40 who don't come back to know how many do
end up potentially in a tent in the 26 Ward how many of
them actually have found a place to live? Like what are the
communications we know? Um, the folks either have phones or
Whatsapp or any like that as far as tracking because
design-wise I think you'd want to know that as well. Like
what's the efficacy of people finding permanent housing and
what what I guess is the rate of that not occurring. So in
terms of people who are housed through the state we are
able to see resettlement numbers and so the state tracks
how many people that they have had so we get that number.
From them, um, but some people choose to leave on their own
and not tell us and we don't, you know force them to I also
think some of what you're asking for is also a resource
issue, right? We are bound by the the the Staffing patterns
that we have. I think if someone goes into a 10 and we find
them we can we know that because we can look for their name
in the database but it's also some people change their
names on us, right? And so there there's a lot of there's
this is a very Dynamic situation sure. I think I think the
question that I've got is like to your point, uh, people do
change. Um, but some don't even feel comfortable knowing
what resources are out there and might want to Circle back
and and contact people that's what we have the Outreach
teams though. So don't forget though. We have the homeless
Outreach and prevention teams, which is dfss Staff but also
we have our nonprofit partners and we're also bringing on a
specialized team that will focus just on new arrivals.
Yeah, you you had mentioned that what's that looking like
as far as the new arrivals Outreach team? Like what is that
Envision? We're in the hiring process, but the 1 language
is
Is a particular is a component. Um, but rather than you
know, we're we're we've got staff but they're focused on
our our own house population. They're dealing with fires.
We want a team that will focus specifically on new arrivals
Outreach as that has become something that we are seeing
new in our system. Do you know like, um, how many
individuals we're talking for a team like that if you're at
their hiring of 2 team of 2 Okay, um,
Oh, sorry Mara you had a hand up. Yeah, I just wanted to
add I think.
um
I think we all share the concern about how many people
might become unsheltered. What I will tell you is that of
the folks that all of the new arrivals that are Outreach
teams are homeless Outreach teams have encountered many of
them have never been to shelter and because there's no
coordination. It's an issue of arriving in Chicago not
knowing how to connect and then we've been able to connect
those who want shelter some do still decline. So I think
um, but but the Outreach component and asking the questions
tracking the data that's all part of the 1 System
initiative. Those are the components we can track what we
can track at the shelter level. Then we need to be able to
have the right infrastructure in place with our Outreach
teams to be tracking, you know things that people might not
report but that we encounter in the field so that we can
make you know, the improvements that we're talking about.
Yeah. I do appreciate kind of having all that forethought
in what are 1 system is going to look like knowing the
complexities of
Who you're going to have a conversation with that's out
there because there are so many variables that um lead to
somebody not being able to find housing. So, um, thank you
for that. I guess the the other question I had was related
to
uh, when we first took on the mission, there's a large
conversation about the mutual AIDS going to volunteer
groups and volunteers being able to help out. And so when I
think about some of the tracking for folks when I think
about folks being able to be driven to The Landing Zone
when that's coming up is there not being transport and that
that has a cost what's been the status as far as any
volunteers and that process and becoming a volunteer and
how many volunteers do we actually have currently in any of
the shelter system?
There are currently no volunteers directly in the shelter
system, but we have a partnership with Chaka cares and the
Chicago Refugee Coalition. They have um been training
volunteers who want to work with new arrivals and have a I
think they've loaded up to 900 unique like volunteer
opportunities that people have signed on to those up until
now have been to support groups like new life and um, you
know, organizations that donate and do work outside of the
shelter system. So that's up and running and it's it's
doing really well. We've been partnering and looking at how
we plug people into the shelter system. There were issues
related to background checks and being able to do that. Um,
so the first
The first uh, like focused way will be around ESL and
plugging ESL directly inside shelters. I know that our the
IMR team has been working with dfss to get that going. Um,
but in terms of just opening it up to volunteers to come in
and help out at the shelter that is not something that we
are able to take on right now. Yeah, what's what's the
timeline for that? Because it's been months since we were
like, hey, there's a volunteer program. Um, if 2 things if
do the chair you could send all the current volunteers and
all those opportunities you're talking about to have like a
account of what that looks like, um, but to your point for
the ESL folks that are coming in what's a timeline for
that? And I think part of the concern as well is as we saw
we had 2 folks who uh were in the shelters and neither of
them knew about the grievance process. So figuring out what
a regular communication or meeting might be for somebody's
ESL to actually talk through that. So, what's the timeline
for having like ESL Volunteers in the shelters?
Lsbj, if you don't mind to is it possible for BJ to answer
he's working on it directly? Yes.
Thank you for that. So timeline still a little fluid, but
just where we're at in the process is that the
organizations have been have been identified the shelters
have been identified and site visits have happened so that
those organizations can really start to understand where in
the shelter they'll they'll be located in what resources
they'll have. I appreciate that. I know we introduced like
a language ordinance to try to get more language access
going at the city level because we're behind on that in
every Department. Um, so I do appreciate uh, the focus on
that. I also think it'll be helpful in knowing not just the
folks who have been exited from shelter, but it's kind of
the slide is shown more people are leaving on their own
more people have like potentially figured out next steps
and I think the more we learn from like those exit
interviews, for example, the more we can find opportunities
for those who are looking right. Um, so I thank you for
that answer and thank you for the information.
I'm sorry. Could you introduce yourself on the mic? So we
have it for the record? Yeah, sure, uh BJ lore director of
new arrivals for the dfss team. Okay. Um last question I
got before I go to other folks and like so I'll submit
through the cherries.
So I appreciate the process meaning um 60 days or up.
There's no extensions. They're sent to the landing Zone
from there. Well, they have to go to The Landing Zone once
at the Landing Zone, uh, potentially if their families they
get routed where they need to if they're individuals. It's
whatever's open next.
What all what all happens?
With that current model in the event that Governor Abbott
is sending however many tens of thousands of people right?
Those are all going to The Landing zone are then the people
who are exited from shelter kind of put to the back of the
line. Like what does that look like? So a couple things 1
the goal is to make sure that new people coming in have a
chance to receive resources. So if we start to see, uh, a
swell of people coming in we will prioritize new families
coming in right the first thing you always want to do is
prioritize family. So it would be new families existing
families and then singles, okay. Thank thank you for that.
Um, that's actually and I think the other thing I'm just
want to add is that we have a significant number of new
arrivals that have cars in the shelter system. And so not
everyone does not have a car like 1 of the problems we have
in community is there are too many cars and Alders are
saying that neighbors are asking to say hey, can we get
residential parking because we're competing for parking
spaces. Yeah. No that that leaves a whole another question.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely, and it's a reality and there's a whole bunch of
questions on then. Yes that part as well, but there's a
there's a significant number of cars that the new arrivals
have. No. No, I I appreciate that. And like I said, I
I I know it's not easy I think.
The fact that we're having these questions is important
clearly with August right around the corner. I think the
immediate concern is what it's going to look like if the
buses and how many and all of that I think post that time
is a good time to what you also said too is like looking
reassess and say where are things at now that we've seen
with the brunt of that could look like so, um, I will go
next to Alder. Minhal.
Was no longer. I'm sorry.
Yep. I've got next. Uh Vice chair Taylor.
Thank you chairman. Um, my questions are
Kind of for commissioner. Kanazi about our current
shelter system. What are we doing to reinsure that those
shelters?
Are up to par A and B how we have helping our current
families get out of um, those shelf that shelter system.
Development here to bring the chairman Vice chairwoman a
couple things about shelters. So our team on the homeless
system, they do site visits with the shelter system. We
have a complaint process where um, if residents of the
shelters have complaints they can send that directly to us.
Our team will investigate we go out. We make sure that
their smoke detectors that there's the right Staffing so
our homeless team is monitoring that um, and then you know,
what we've been really successful with to help make sure
that people are moving out of shelter is through the rapid
rehousing and the accelerated moving events that we're
doing and so we rotate those, um accelerated moving events
between um, those who are sheltered and unsheltered on the
northwest and South sides and then making sure we're
balancing family versus single shelters. So we are making
sure that we're going to family shelters and giving them an
opportunity, uh, since 2020. We have supported 2,800
residents, um have moved out
um and been housed through that uh process that we have
with rapid rehousing
commissioner. I'm asking the question because
I don't feel like on either side. Well, I don't feel like on
on our regular shelter system that we're helping folks
getting to housing. And what does that plan look like? My
whole struggle with both systems is
so we got folks on a 60-day plan.
Um, definitely all shelters are not
Built equal as far as I'm concerned, they're definitely
some difference in between the regular shelter system and
the shelter system. We've created for the Asylum Seekers
regular shelters. You got to be out at a certain time and
then you get to come back. That's not what the the other
Shelter Systems.
Kind of experience and so I want us to have a real
conversation on how we look at both systems as a whole and
how we working with cha and Hood to reinsure housing
because even if we're doing the 60-day housing thing and I
know that's not a part of this conversation right now, but
all we going to do is create more homelessness. And so what
is the the plan I feel like we continue to put a blank
Band-Aid on a bullet wound and that's not helping anybody.
And so I want us to have a real conversation about how we're
looking at housing when it comes to homelessness in both
shelters, especially those folks who are born and raised in
raised in the city of Chicago and I don't I don't know what
we're doing or what is the plan to make sure those folks
We'll see you housing.
So a couple things Vice chair, uh 1 again, you know since
2020 we have invested 70 million dollars in Rapid rehousing
and um close to you know, 2,000 people have been housed who
are in the shelter system in nearly 900 people were from
unsheltered. So a good majority of people are those who
were in the shelter system. The second thing again is um,
we don't have you know, the 12 hours Mission or not to cut
you off. Can you send us that through the chair? Yep, I
sure will but I just want to say 1 thing before I I go to
let you let me go that we don't do term time limits for the
homeless system. So people don't have to be out in 12
hours. So we may have 2 shelters that do that but the
majority of our 50 shelter our 24-hour shelters.
Commissioner. When was the last time that we looked we did
visits in Salto shelters because the complaints that I got
from folks even before the crisis was there in horrible
conditions and what are the folks who actually live it in
there doing to keep those facilities clean because it's on
the owners of them as well. Absolutely. So we literally
have meetings with providers on a regular basis. I was in 1
2 weeks ago with a provider talking about uh, some of the
things that we saw so we're doing that regularly, but let's
have a conversation if you're hearing things that I don't
know about.
Out I want to know about it.
last question, it seems like and this is
To uh commissioner, uh, Deputy Mayor B. It seems like the
folks that are in the
the migrant shelters don't even know about a lot of the
the resources or information that is needed because there
is the language barrier and Alderman. How about this sub
before about the young people that are in our schools who
don't have folks who speak their language? What are we
doing about language barrier and through the chair. Can you
get us a breakdown of nationality of folks that are in the
shelters because there was a visit to the border and it
seems like Haitians just never make it to Chicago. There
are a lot of and so what I want us to do is have a real
conversation about
Who what what we actually have in the shelter system
because there's this misconception that none of we don't
have any agents, but that's that's far that's from the
truth. I know there are and there are people who identify
as afro Latino and so through the cheer. Can we get that
information about who is actually in those systems?
Thank you for that question. I I appreciate it. So we do
have it is primarily Spanish speakers, but they're also
Haitian Creole speakers French, um from different African
countries and Portuguese, I believe is another language
that is spoken. I know that in the shelter system. They've
tried to provide Staffing that speaks, um, you know 1 or
more of these languages and materials have been um
translated as much as possible. I will defer to um, Dani
Castaneda to say more about that, but I do want to say that
um, we have a language access ordinance in the city and
have to work harder at really implementing that across the
board to make sure that we are uh, meeting language access
needs and especially as the population has changed our
schools are seeing some challenges because kids are going
to schools where there weren't bilingual Ed programs before
and in the middle of the school year. They've had to figure
it out.
I think that it's also an opportunity for next year that
they have the if given the budget um are able to provide
the right Staffing that they need to serve the the multiple
language needs of the children that are um attending and
then we we've shared this before but we were able to hire a
a senior community liaison for the Immigrant migrant
Refugee Rights office. She is working with the African
diaspora community in particular, but also just part of
the IMR team and um has her her task her charge is to work
more specifically to um, see what the needs are and
resources that can be brought in the shelter to migrants
who come from the African diaspora and then also work with
communities for people as they resettle into neighborhoods
in Chicago and we're really excited to have her on board.
She's been doing a great job. Um, but I don't Danny is
there anything you want to add about language access in the
shelters?
Yeah, thank you Vice chair for the question. I did just
want to highlight that a snapshot of those in shelters
shared weekly with uh, this body with the city council so
you can see the breakdown by country of origin for everyone
that's currently in shelter on a weekly basis via that that
share that happens. Um every Friday, uh from the IG team.
Um, and it's I just want to affirm what you said. It's true
that the vast majority of people that are arriving to
Chicago are still primarily from Venezuela or
Spanish-speaking countries. Uh, the number of people that
have arrived from Haiti or other countries are still very
much the minority, but we have been very intentional
especially in the last I would say 6 months since uh, we've
been less in uh, opening shelter mode and More in improving
our actual program in the existing system that we've been
able to establish under incredible amounts of pressure and
in a short amount of time, uh with not all of
that we've needed,
shared in 5 languages. I believe it's mostly Spanish. But
Haitian Creole French Portuguese and Arabic.
Um, and I think something that we have been able to work
with our staffing agency is recruiting people that have uh,
our multilingual. Uh, I think more recently we've been able
to hire someone that speaks Spanish and Arabic which I
think is a unique opportunity given the access to
recruiting that the staffing agency has that many, you
know, existing homeless service providers struggle with and
not just homeless providers but really service providers
period and being able to meet uh, the diverse backgrounds
of everybody that's coming through their doors, but we've
made some some uh, I think really significant strides in
the right direction there.
I do have the list of um country of origin and I can just
read it very quickly, but also submit it for the record. So
as of July 19th, there were 4,300. Um and 3 people from
Venezuela and our shelter system 468 from Colombia 2:56
from Ecuador 72 from Peru 60 from Haiti 35 from Mexico 29
from muda's 25 from Nicaragua 24 from Angola 19 from
Guatemala 14 from Chile 11 from Sudan and then we have a
list of countries with 10 or fewer and those include
Algeria Brazil Bolivia Morocco. Martynia, Russia, El
Salvador and several more so we'll submit this
For the record. Thank you.
Do you have any further questions Vice chair?
Yeah last question.
What what is the plan for?
the DNC
there is this fear of because it's the DNC they're going to
send millions of more migrants and buses.
What is the plan?
We have a solid plan. We have a plan that um looks at 1 of
the reasons we've covered. The number of beds we have open
is to be prepared in case we get a a high number of people
very suddenly and if those beds max out we have uh
commitment to open a certain number of what we're calling
just in time shelter. These are beds that will be available
for about 30 days at a time. Um, and then if we Max those
out the state and those would be operated by the city, but
funded with shared funding from state county and and the
federal government FEMA and then after that if we Max those
out, um, the state is looking at a plan to open an
additional like number of just in time beds. We hope that
we don't have to get to that third level but everything to
be able to open these beds very quickly is beginning to
fall into place. So in terms of Staffing the you know
supplies needed the activation there's a
There's a protocol that's put in place. The plan was mostly
designed by our office of emergency management oemc along
with AAA FEMA Region 5 kakani emergency and then input from
from um, you know dfss, um, the mayor's office idhs and
other partners that are involved,
Glenn do you want to add anything to that?
from the o oemc
Uh, just you know, I think you covered it be is that it was
a coordinated effort of subject matter experts in Emergency
Management from oemc.
Cook County
iea and FEMA that put this uh plan together that we have at
this time.
Thank you very much. Do the chair. Can we get a list of
shelters that are state and city ran. Thank you chairman.
Yes, absolutely. We'll do.
Okay, uh, thank you. Um, I really want to thank you all for
uh testifying today. Um, I think uh prior to to this
hearing I actually spoke to a reporter who also happened to
mention that there's elections in Venezuela happening at at
the impact of those elections could lead to anywhere from
30 to 40% of the population migrating depending on those
results. Uh, I think as we think about the impact of what
that potential influx looks like as it comes to the
The Border here, I think.
Looking at our own election in November. All those things
are going to have implications on what Chicago does to
prepare. Um, but I do appreciate um, all the difficult work
that's been done. Um, I think that there's
clearly conversations about how we need to improve it.
There's always a natural tension of wanting to make things
better. And so I want to thank you all um for taking that
on and answering the questions as we continue the
conversation. So, um as questions have now concluded, uh,
there's no further business before the committee may have a
motion to adjourn.
So moved by Alder person Fuentes hearing no objection. So
ordered the meeting of the committee on immigrant and
Refugee Rights is now adjourned.