As the number of migrants sleeping at police stations and airports balloons, the city is moving to open a pair of new shelters — one on the South Side and another on the North Side.
The South Side shelter, the Lake Shore Hotel in Kenwood, 4900B S. Lake Shore Drive, is expected to open as soon as next week, said local Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th), who first learned about the city’s plan to open the shelter last week and called for a public meeting about it Friday.
“My concern,” Yancy said, “is making sure the community is brought into the room” to have a conversation about it.
The shelter opening was first reported by the Hyde Park Herald on Monday. The city did not respond to requests for comment about whether it would be for families or singles, when it would open and what the cost would be. Yancy said it could fit around 300 people.
The community meeting about it will 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. It will also be livestreamed on Yancy’s Facebook page.
The new shelter plans come as the city has received over 13,500 migrants in the past year and as 6,500 are spread among the 15 currently operating shelters.
Around 1,500 are sleeping at police stations and airports, waiting for shelter space to open. That number has doubled in the past month, prompting the city to reuse police stations it had emptied due to allegations of sexual misconduct between migrants and police officers. And the number of arrivals is only expected to grow.
To house future arrivals, the city’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate approved on Monday the $1.5 purchase of a former United State Marine Corps Facility in North Park, 3034 W. Foster Ave., to turn into a temporary shelter.
“Acquisition of the Marine Corps property presents a tremendous opportunity,” said Local Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) in a statement.
Following its potential use as a migrant shelter, other “potential uses for the property,” said Nugent, “could include working with Chicago Public Schools to create an early childhood learning center, or partnering with the Chicago Park District to make more riverfront parkland accessible to the community.”
The shelter would house around 550 people and is expected to be financed through the Lawrence/Kedzie TIF district. It’s expected to go before the full City Council on Sept. 13.
Aside from it being “available,” Lori Ann Lypson, deputy mayor of Infrastructure and Services, said the site was chosen because it had classrooms, showers and a cafeteria space, facilities which the city has said were lacking in other potential shelter spaces.
Not everyone on the committee supported the purchase. Ald. David Moore (17th) called for a clear plan on how the city intended to handle the migrant crisis. “Give it to us in writing,” he said. “Then I won’t have this issue.”
The city did not respond to requests for comment on its plan to empty police stations and other temporary shelters.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) called for more details about how much running the facility would cost and for a clearer plan for the future of the space.
“I know we’re trying to alleviate those police stations,” she said, “but how will this be used for the community afterwards?”
Michael Loria is a staff reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.
