Chicago mayor’s handling of migrant shelter conditions investigated

CHICAGO — For months now, stories have emerged of decrepit conditions at Chicago migrant shelters, and volunteers and some aldermen say living conditions are not up to par at some of the shelters.

These concerns took center stage at a City Council committee hearing Tuesday, the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson saying it’s addressing them as the City Council boosts oversight.

The Johnson administration is managing 28 emergency shelters, with a population of 14,000 new arrivals from the southern border. The City Council heard from Johnson administration officials Tuesday, including Deputy Mayor Beatriz Ponce de Leon, who stressed they’re doing the best they can.

“Having the oversight and the systems in place has taken some time, but we receive grievances on a daily basis, they’re looked at, they’re resolved as quickly as we can,” Ponce de Leon said. “They’re meant to be emergency temporary shelters. They’re really not meant to be longtime for anyone.”

On Tuesday, City Council members provided close scrutiny of conditions at city-run migrant shelters. 

“We’ve heard reports of inadequate food, bedbug and rodent infestation, a lack of containment for infectious diseases, and failures to provide treatment for medical conditions,” Ald. Andre Vazquez (40th Ward) said.

“… We’re always going to have concerns about what the treatment is at the landing zone and at the shelter. I think baseline, we’re getting limited information on what that looks like. So what we want to do is create avenues for the new arrivals to be able to speak.”

Concerns about migrant shelter conditions took on greater urgency back in December, when a 5-year-old boy died after falling ill at the Pilsen shelter. But officials cautioned Tuesday that the Medical Examiner has not yet released a cause of death for the boy. 

Tuesday’s hearing came after Mayor Johnson pushed back plans to evict migrants who’ve lived in shelters for more than 60 days to mid-March. The city and state are scrambling to help them find work permits and apartments, but Ponce de Leon admitted just half of shelter residents are eligible for state rental assistance.

“It is a challenge that we’re talking about with the state and the county as we do this shared collaborative planning,” she said.

As those plans take shape, another concern raised Tuesday was over what will happen when the city runs out of the money appropriated for migrant services. Some believe that could happen as soon as April.

Also Tuesday, members of the City Council were reminded they could visit the shelters with 48-hour advance notice. Migrant advocates want more than that, however, calling for social workers and journalists to be allowed inside migrant shelters.