Shelter

The City of Chicago has stood up migrant shelters to meet the needs of homeless asylum-seekers arriving to our city. Individuals in need of shelter should contact 311 or visit the nearest police station to request assistance with submitting a shelter request. 

The Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) are vetting suitable City-owned assets to serve as temporary emergency shelters. If there are facilities in your community suitable for temporary shelter that can accommodate 200+ people daily, please fill out the following form. DFSS and OEMC teams will follow up to vet all possible options.

Minimum parameters for sites:

  • 200-person capacity,
  • no major repairs needed,
  • access to showers or the ability to support a shower trailer

Preferred, but not required criteria:

  • Space Use/Zoning
    • First Preference: Residential (including residential clusters and institutions)
    • Second Preference: Commercial/Retail (including commercial campuses)
  • Close to Public Transportation
  • ADA Compliant
  • Has sufficient showers for the number of people sleeping in the facility
  • Has ample parking
  • Has either one large congregate area or numerous individual rooms to support sleeping, feeding, and service provision
  • A location for eating, a cafeteria space would be ideal; or communal area for gathering
  • Minimal effort to set up WiFi
  • Space/ability to hook up commercial laundry machines
  • Ideally a discrete outdoor area for smoke breaks
  • Easily accessible entrance for buses, ideally discrete/private from the road
  • Primary front-door entrance with space for security desk and easy monitoring of in/out flow

 

 

New Arrivals - Available Buildings or Spaces (office.com)