By Daniella Silva —NBC News
As Chicago's brutal winter looms, city and state officials are scrambling to find shelter for more than 2,000 immigrants now living in airports, police stations and on city streets, as well as long-term housing for thousands more already crammed into overcrowded shelters.
But advocates question whether measures recently announced by state and city officials aimed at helping immigrants settle more quickly in the city will work as planned or contribute to the worsening humanitarian crisis caused in part by the busing of thousands of people to the city from Texas.
"There's a lot at stake in Chicago's winter, and we can't afford for anyone in our beautiful state or city to freeze because we didn't realize this, to die because we didn't realize this," said Karina Ayala Bermejo, executive director and president of the Latino Progress Institute. who is involved in case management and other programs for immigrants.
[Video: Images of Mexican immigration agents abusing migrants emerge]
As of Monday morning, there were 12,251 immigrants living in 26 active city-run shelters, and another 2,175 were waiting at O'Hare and Midway airports, as well as inside and outside police stations, to be located, according to a new census of new immigrant arrivals.
Officials added that more than 21,700 asylum seekers and migrants have arrived since August 2022, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's migrant bus program arrived in Chicago.
The influx has put a strain on Chicago's social services network. There haven't been enough shelter beds for everyone in need. And the process of moving people from temporary shelter to permanent, independent housing has been painfully slow, advocates have said.
"The question is how do you manage an ecosystem that is already in crisis." Ayala Bermejo said.
The process of finding housing, in particular, has been "very difficult" for Johan Martinez Hernandez, 35, who has been looking for an apartment in Chicago for three months while staying in a shelter with 600 other immigrants. He, like thousands of others, was bused into the city and has struggled to find his place ever since.
As he prepared last week to visit another apartment, Martinez Hernandez was hopeful it would be his exit from the crowded shelter.
"I really hope they rent me," Martinez Hernandez, who traveled to the United States seeking asylum from Venezuela, said in Spanish.
Moving into an apartment, she said, would allow her to get a legal job and bring stability to her life in a new city. "You can't survive like this forever," he added.
As part of a plan to move people out of shelters and eventually into permanent housing, the state and city have imposed new restrictions on the assistance immigrants can receive, reducing both the number of days they can stay in the shelter and the amount of rental assistance. Both with the stated goal of enabling people to lead independent lives more quickly.
Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that the state would invest an additional $160 million to address "bottlenecks" in the "asylum seeker resettlement process."
According to the governor, that includes: $65 million to expand case management, housing assistance and legal services; another $65 million to create temporary "winterized" housing for up to 2,000 migrants, and $30 million to set up an intake center.
The state is also reducing rental assistance for asylum seekers in shelters to three months' rent, instead of six months. The governor's office said this would "allow all current residents of the shelter to access" the rental assistance program. But going forward, the program won't be available to newcomers, the state said, adding that "housing assistance will still be provided to support the housing search process, tenant rights, and landlord-tenant communications."
Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that the city would begin limiting the amount of time a person can stay in a shelter to 60 days.
"The goal of the 60-day limited-stay policy is to expedite how new arrivals interact with the emergency shelter system," the city said on its website. "The City can continue to support existing residents on the path to self-sufficiency while maintaining our ability to meet the immediate needs of new individuals and families arriving in Chicago daily, including providing direct access to public benefits and other supports during their 60-day stay."
The city said immigrants may be granted temporary extensions "under difficult circumstances," including "medical crises or extremely cold weather." Officials also explained that if a migrant is not eligible for an extension and has not yet secured housing, they can return to the city's "landing zone" and request a new shelter location.
Advocates said those changes could hamper efforts to find housing and potentially lead to asylum seekers falling into oblivion and hitting the streets in increasingly lower temperatures.
"This is like a blow to me," the Rev. Kenneth Phelps on the reduction in rental assistance. Phelps helps immigrants find housing and participates in several programs to help them transition to life in Chicago. "That ties our hands a lot," he added.
Phelps said it had already been difficult to find landlords and property managers willing to rent to immigrants with up to six months of rental assistance, as most asylum seekers lack the documentation normally provided to them during the rental process and do not yet have work permits.
"I feel defeated. There's no way the city can deliver on its promises," Phelps added.
Ayala-Bermejo said a 60-day limit on shelter stays would require "intensive case management" to ensure immigrants don't miss out on housing and social service opportunities.
"We have to make sure that we don't waste all the good that has been invested in that individual, in that family, that will be lost if they just hit the ground and add to those who are homeless," he said.
He also said investment from the city, state and federal government should accompany migrants beyond housing, "toward work authorization, job development and job opportunities, so they can support themselves."
"You can't pull the rug out from under them once they have a job," he said. "You have to continue to invest in case management and support services that will help them keep their jobs, and then continue to pay rent and not turn around and join the unhoused population."
But Matt DeMateo, executive director of New Life Centers of Chicagoland, a nonprofit that works with the state on resettlement, said that while the reduction to three months of rental assistance may pose a challenge to finding housing, it could ultimately allow more immigrants to benefit from the program.
DeMateo believes another aspect of the state's plan — filing 11,000 applications for work authorization and temporary protected status by February — will also improve the immigration crisis.
"Once that opens up, people will be able to take a stable path," he said. "With all those investments, the idea is how to improve the whole system, so we can get through this and solve these bottlenecks."
The state said last week that since August 2022, about 9,000 immigrants have been resettled, either in permanent housing or with relatives, both within the state of Illinois and in other states.
Oscar Peñalver Sánchez hopes to be among them soon. After living for about a year in a shelter with more than 150 other immigrants, she recently moved into her own apartment.
"It's a huge relief because it's hard to stay that long in shelters," he said in Spanish, but added that he was grateful to have had "a place to sleep and lay my head."
You're in the process of applying for a work permit, which she hopes will put you on the path to financial independence.
"I want to work and face life head-on," he said.