For the second time this year, the city of Chicago plans to use the Parthenon Guest House on South Halsted in Greektown to house migrants.
“I was really disappointed of the lack of notice and the lack of detail that I was given on this,” said 34th Ward Alderman Bill Conway.
Conway said he was told by the city that the plan is to move migrants into the temporary shelter starting this Friday.
“It’s my understanding that the guest house holds 136,” Conway said. “The mayor’s office says 196 folks are going to move in—not sure exactly how we’re going to make up the difference of 60 - still working on those details.”
NBC 5 learned the city previously house migrants at the hostel last winter. It’s unclear this time around if single men or single women will be staying.
“Well people are concerned that we’ll have problems at the guest house, like, we’ve had at some other places around the city,” Conway said. “However we’re going to do everything we can to make sure this is done in a safe and secured manner.”
Some people who live and work in the West Loop have mixed feelings about the move.
Local
“I definitely feel for the migrants,” said Alex Matseshe. “But we already have a big homeless problem and the people that have been here homeless for many years, maybe we should take care of them first.”
“Honestly I feel it could be a great thing,” said Joseph Bautista. “If it's just migrants coming over, if they need that, then, you know, it should be used as the space.”
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
New numbers from the city show at this time 2,000 migrants are still waiting to be placed into temporary shelters. Of those, 1,500 are still sleeping at police districts. The city expecting four busses to arrive Wednesday.
A community meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday evening at the Merit School of Music. Residents will get a chance to hear from city representatives directly about their plan for the temporary shelter.
A city spokesperson told NBC 5 the number of new arrivals at the hostel has not been confirmed and a move-in date has not been set.
