CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Officials from the city of Chicago and state of Illinois are taking the next step Thursday toward what could be a one-of-a-kind system that would combine support services for the city’s homeless and new arrivals populations and provide housing solutions and other care to both groups.
The One System Initiative has been discussed since the spring and would shift oversight of the city’s management of permanent shelters for the unhoused and migrants to a community-based, nonprofit model rather than an out-of-state group.
Since the start of Chicago’s new arrival mission in 2022, the city has contracted with Favorite Healthcare Staffing. The city said the One System Initiative would be made possible through a collaboration between the state and city, with funding support also coming from the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness.
On Thursday, the city and state will receive recommendations from 50 nonprofit organizations and community-based groups with what they would like to see from the One System Initiative, which remains in the planning stages.
The organizations were all part of the initial planning phase that has been ongoing since March, state officials told NewsNation. However, the meeting being held Thursday is just the beginning for what could be coming in the months to come, officials told NewsNation.
The Chicago Tribune reported in April that under the contract with Favorite Healthcare Staffing, new arrival shelter staff members providing security, case-working and cleaning services at city-run shelters are being paid between $60 and $150 per hour. The report indicated that as of March, the city had paid the agency $56 million since 2022.
The One System Initiative is being described as a community-led planning process that aligns the efforts to support people currently experiencing homelessness and migrants, who have been sent to Chicago from the U.S. southern border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The city was initially expecting 25,000 migrants to arrive during the Democratic National Convention in August, but no buses ever came due to the slowdown in border crossings after President Joe Biden signed an executive order.
Several other state agencies, including the office of Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Human Services, as well as city departments such as the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services will lend support to the system, the city said.
What the One System Initiative would do
The One System Initiative is designed to work toward a unified system that would ultimately serve the needs of all people experiencing homelessness whether that be new arrivals or longer-term city residents.
A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Human Services told NewsNation that financial and operational planning is in the works and will be rolled out in a later phase of the initiative. The funding plan, the spokesperson said, will be dependent on any required budget approvals.
Thursday’s meeting comes as the city announced last week that it will close three new arrival shelters in October as the number of migrants needing housing in city-run shelters drops. Since 2022, the city has provided services including housing, medical care, and legal assistance helping 48,000 new arrivals work through immigration and work authorization issues. However, as of this week, only 5,425 migrants live in 17 city-run shelters.
The city currently has about 5,000 open beds for migrants who need shelter, according to a city spokesperson.
The city closed a temporary shelter for the homeless Sunday in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood that was designed to provide housing during the winter months. The shelter, which was housed in the former Tremont Hotel, was scheduled to close at the end of September. A city spokesman said as of Sunday, only a few people remained after most of those living there accepted other temporary housing assignments.
Advocates for the homeless have expressed concerns that new arrivals who leave city-run shelters after their allotted time runs out could become homeless. Chicago is among the U.S. sanctuary cities that have begun to clear homeless encampments to get people off the street.
Chicago’s budgetary woes
According to city data, Chicago officials have budgeted $150 million this year to address care for new arrivals. However, as the city continues to face budget issues, Mayor Brandon Johnson has announced measures, including a hiring freeze, to address the city’s expected $982.4 million shortfall in 2025.
When officials began working on the One System Initiative, Beatriz Ponce de Leon, Chicago’s deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights, said in a statement released by the city that eventually, the hope was to fully transition to a unified shelter system.
“(The goal is) to serve people regardless of if they’ve been here for five days or five years or their whole life,” Ponce de Leon said in the spring.
Thursday’s meeting will only be the next step in the process toward moving toward combining the city’s homeless and new arrival populations, city and state officials have said.
Phase 2, or implementation planning, including the funding plan for the One System Initiative, which is subject to any required budget approvals, is currently in process, state officials said. Implementation is a third phase, which has not yet begun.
As the initiative is still in its early stages, state officials told NewsNation this week they are not able to give a set number of phases or definitive timeline for when the One System Initiative could be launched.
