As the city of Chicago embarks on a "Unity Initiative" to help find housing for migrants, they are facing some obstacles, both expected and unexpected.
In one instance, a woman’s partner was out looking for work when the call came that they would be moved to another shelter as part of the program. It appeared that he would miss the van taking her to a shelter, built into a church's gymnasium in Hermosa.
In Spanish, a driver assured her that her partner will be allowed to join her when he returned.
The confusion is part of the back and forth between asylum seekers and groups seeking to help them as Chicago seeks to move migrants out of police stations and airports and into churches.
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The woman, who does not want her name used, will be staying at the Life Impacters Foundation facility. It is affiliated with the Grace and Peace Church, one of churches participating in Chicago’s Unity Initiative, a plan to get new arrivals off sidewalks and into temporary shelters before the coldest weather arrives.
“The thing is making them feel warm and feel welcome, that they have hope,” said Yolanda Pena of Life Impacters.
Pena’s staff gave let the woman use their cell phones to call her partner, let him know where she was and tell him they would send a rideshare to get him and bring him to the shelter. “
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For them to know that they are not going to be separated, that’s a big relief for them,” Pena said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the Unity Initiative Tuesday, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker further refined Illinois’ plan to spend $160 million to shelter asylum seekers and establish a welcome/intake center.
Both the city and state efforts will include wraparound services designed to provide migrants with legal help and assistance in getting the permits they will need to get permanent jobs.
Pena called the initiative a “game changer” because it will allow her receive funding from private sources and the city that will allow her to hire staff and house as many as 50 migrants for up to 60 days. The Hermosa facility is more than just a place for migrants to stay. Pena said it will connect parents with jobs and kids with schools.
“That’s what they came for, a better life,” she said.
