Pritzker "Deeply Concerned" About Johnson Shelter Plan
Governor JB Pritzker and then-Mayor Elect Brandon Johnson meet with the media in April, 2023. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
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Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are continuing their tense dance and budding war of words after reports the Johnson administration plans to stop expanding shelter space for asylum-seeking migrants being sent to the city.
“I’m deeply concerned,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Chicago Monday. “We do not have enough shelter, as it is, in the city of Chicago.”
But, in a statement, Johnson’s office suggested the state should be doing more.
“There are 1,300 municipalities in the State of Illinois, of which Chicago is one. The State has the authority to fund, stand up and operate a shelter in any one of those municipalities at any time that it chooses, including the City of Chicago,” Reese wrote. “Thus far, the City of Chicago has carried the entire weight of the new arrival mission, sheltering nearly every asylum seeker sent to Illinois. We remain committed, however, to ensuring that asylum seekers are housed while also fulfilling our fiduciary responsibilities to the people of Chicago.”
But, Pritzker, who already moved $160 million from the state Department of Human Services budget, as part of what the Governor’s office has claimed, is over $600 million the state has invested in the migrant crisis.
“The city has not told the state where they would like us to put our resources to build new shelters or help them build new shelters,” Pritzker said Monday. “So, we can’t help if they don’t identify those locations. And we need to make sure that we’re not ending shelter capacity as the city is now planning to do at the end of winter. If you think this problem is going to end when the temperature warms up, it’s not. We still need shelter for people.”
But, clearly, Chicago officials feel they’re getting the short end of the stick with the resettlement costs.
“The city of Chicago has carried the entire weight of the new arrival mission, sheltering nearly every asylum-seeker sent to Illinois,” the statement read.
More shelter space could come open in a matter of weeks if the Johnson administration follows through on its promise to evict migrants from shelters after 60 days. The proposal has already been pushed back twice due to extreme weather.
It also doesn’t appear the legislature has an appetite to spend more money in a standalone supplemental appropriation bill.