Residents Demand Information About Reestablished Migrant Shelter on Chicago’s South Side
Residents of three South Side lakefront communities gathered at a meeting on Wednesday night to demand information from city staff and elected officials about a soon-to-be reestablished migrant shelter off DuSable Lake Shore Drive. The meeting, held at the Promontory restaurant just days before the shelter’s planned opening, was the latest in a series of tense neighborhood forums where residents have expressed their concerns about hosting migrants in closed high schools and other city buildings.
According to city staff, the Lake Shore Hotel, located on the 4900 block of South Lake Shore Drive, previously hosted migrants between January and April of this year. It will reopen within the week as one of many emergency facilities set up to alleviate pressure on police stations and other improvised solutions for the increasing number of asylum-seekers from Venezuela and other parts of Central and South America.
At the meeting, attended by approximately 200 people, residents raised several questions and concerns. They inquired about the vaccination and fingerprinting of new arrivals, the education of their children, the food provided to migrants, and whether migrants were being housed in other parts of Chicago. Some residents also expressed fears about an increase in criminal activity, traffic and parking issues, and the maintenance of their communities.
One resident, Adrienne Edwards, voiced her concerns about recent arrivals being involved in illegal activities and asked who should be held accountable for what they were witnessing. Deputy Chicago police chief Stephen Chung and newly seated Ald. Desmon Yancy, 5th, responded by discussing previous incidents involving migrants at the Lake Shore facility and advised residents on what to do when witnessing criminal activity. However, Edwards was dissatisfied with their answers, stating that city representatives seemed “tragically tone deaf” to the residents’ concerns.
A major source of discontent at the meeting was the level of services provided by the city to current residents, particularly in predominantly Black areas. Participants questioned whether predominantly white, wealthy neighborhoods like Lincoln Park were being asked to contribute to the same extent as the South Side. Others raised concerns about the city’s assistance to local residents who are either homeless or have mental health difficulties.
Throughout the meeting, attendees applauded or shouted in disagreement with questions and comments. Ald. Andre Vazquez, 40th, who attended the meeting as a representative of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s migrant task force, highlighted the need for neighborhoods to receive more advanced notice about the opening of migrant shelters.
Vazquez also assured the crowd that the city was working on reopening mental health clinics, increasing job opportunities for Black youth, and establishing a unified shelter system for any Chicagoan without a place to live.
In the final moments of the meeting, Ald. Yancy invited residents to participate in the upcoming city budget process and encouraged them to express their opinions on various aspects of Chicago government.
The issue of where to house the growing number of migrants arriving in Chicago has become a contentious question. Residents in South Shore and Woodlawn have resisted the city’s plans to use closed high schools for housing newcomers. Many migrants have spent their initial days and weeks in Chicago sleeping on the floors of police stations, while others have been relocated due to allegations of misconduct by police officers.
In Pilsen, a newly formed aid group operating a shelter at 21st Street and Racine Avenue announced that they would shut down the facility on September 3 due to staffing issues and difficulties in obtaining recognition from the Illinois Department of Human Services.
As the meeting concluded, volunteers at the Pilsen shelter informed attendees that those staying at the facility would have to go back to sleeping on police station floors.
Residents left the meeting with a mix of emotions, with some disappointed by the level of tension in the room, while others expressed their commitment to supporting asylum-seekers and finding ways to address the needs of their communities.
For more information, contact [email protected].