The chaos has worsened in Chicago as the homeless population has tripled in just one year as immigrants continue to move to the Windy City.
The city’s annual snapshot, released Friday, revealed that 18,836 people will become homeless in Chicago in 2024, compared to 6,139 in 2023, representing a staggering 200 percent increase overall.
The homeless population under the term “protected newcomers” was counted on January 25 at 13,679, while 212 “unsheltered newcomers” were recorded.
Surprisingly, the 212 unsheltered newcomers, that is, people sleeping on the streets, represent an increase of 960 percent compared to 2023, when the number was only 20.
A total of 1,422 “unsheltered non-newcomers” were registered, along with 3,523 “sheltered non-newcomers”. The number of non-asylum seekers on the city’s streets has increased by 25 percent compared to last year’s total of 3,943.
The homeless population in Chicago has grown three times more than in 2023 with a total of 18,836 counted as of January 2024.
Immigrants have taken over the city streets, as 13,679 were counted as homeless “sheltered newcomers,” while 212 were counted as homeless “unsheltered newcomers.”
Of the 200 percent increase in homeless people in the city, 30 percent were children under 18, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
Starting in 2022, Chicago also receives buses of migrants from the southern border, sent by Texas officials, amid the growing national crisis.
Maura McCauley, deputy commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services, said the city has attempted to resettle more than 43,000 immigrants.
‘Those things have been happening together. You don’t stop to serve another population,” McCauley told the Chicago Sun Times.
According to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, a homeless person is one who “lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”
Before the migrant crisis, the number of homeless people in a single night was gradually decreasing. It rose again in 2020, but fell again in 2021 and 2022.
McCauley said the recent surge came because COVID-19 pandemic support ended.
“We truly believe that’s because pandemic-era supports, like SNAP benefits and state and federal stimulus resources, came to an end between 2022 and 2023. And Chicago’s housing market has less and less affordable,” McCauley said.
‘We were anticipating this increase, but at the same time we increased our accommodation capacity more than five times. And if we hadn’t, we truly believe we would have seen a tragic and unprecedented increase in our unsheltered population,” he added.
The city’s annual snapshot, released Friday, revealed that 18,836 people will become homeless in Chicago in 2024, up from 6,139 in 2023.
Johnson has long been in the hot seat for the immigration crisis that has gripped Chicago. In April, angry Chicagoans criticized Johnson for allocating $70 million to migrant care.
According to a city report, when the homeless population was tallied at the beginning of the year, 9,165 beds were recorded for permanent housing, while 2,979 beds were recorded for rapid housing and 304 beds for other permanent housing.
McCauley said the sharp rise in homelessness shows how much the city needs more federal resources to help with the problem.
Of the more than 900 immigrants who were evacuated from city shelters, about 55 percent of them have continued to live in facilities, officials said. WTTW News.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been at the center of the massive migrant crisis, began imposing limits on how long immigrants can stay in shelters.
His administration ordered that migrants be given 60 days to reside in city-run shelters after many of them arrived by bus from the Texas border.
Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze said city officials “do not expect a mass departure from shelters” because “a number of extensions remain in effect and shelter departure dates are staggered based on the moment people entered the shelter.”
“The city of Chicago continues to maintain one of the most generous shelter stay policies for asylum seekers of any major city in the United States,” Knazze said.
He added that all residents have the ability to “re-enter temporary shelter sites” if they cannot find safe housing after being removed.
According to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, a homeless person is one who “lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”
Frustrated citizens were left confused about the newly released statistics, with one claiming that Mayor Johnson announced there were more than 68,000 immigrants in the city just three months ago.
‘The city’s official count is 18.8 thousand, including 13.6 thousand sheltered immigrants. Lying about statistics does not build trust,” someone on X posted in response to the data.
Johnson has long been in the dock for the immigration crisis that has hit Chicago.
In April, angry Chicagoans criticized Johnson for allocating $70 million to immigrant care.
Concerned citizens spoke directly to the mayor during a meeting where officials were originally expected to vote on funding immigrant services in the Windy City.
Johnson, a progressive, has long defended the city’s sanctuary policies and planned to get councilors to agree to the requested funds, even though the city has already invested $300 million in the crisis.
A woman, dressed in a red MAGA cowboy hat and a t-shirt that said ‘Chicago RED,’ attacked Johnson and said, ‘We need that money in my neighborhood, we need that money on my block.’
“So I ask everyone to use our tax money for our people, we need it,” he added.
However, the meeting ended without a vote as city councilors deferred a decision on the funding request.
It was recently discovered that Johnson managed to spend $30,000 on grooming in one year, with most of the money spent on makeup.
To pay for hair and makeup appointments, Johnson used money his supporters contributed to his Friends of Brandon Johnson campaign fund.
Most of the $30,000 went to Denise Milloy, a makeup artist and self-proclaimed “skin care enthusiast” who operates on the city’s south side.
The rest of the sum, $4,000, was spent on hair appointments at a beauty salon.
Between 2023 and 2024, Johnson made more than 30 payments to Milloy’s ‘Makeup Majic’.
Payments preceding the mayor’s election are listed under headings such as: “Television Candidate Makeup,” “Makeup Advance,” “Candidate Makeup,” and “Debate Candidate Makeup.”
However, after Johnson was elected, his payments to ‘Makeup Majic’ have fallen under the vague and generic heading of ‘campaign expenses’.
