At a Monday City Council meet, Chicago people criticised Mayor Brandon Johnson for spending more than half a billion dollars on the city’s budget on providing shelter to workers.
The New Arrivals Mission, a system that provides short-term, emergency shelter in response to the charitable crisis, has received the money. The program was started in 2022 and has since cost the city$ 574.5 million.
The town is staring down a budget deficit of a billion dollars in addition to the budget pressure the program is putting on. At the City Council meeting, Johnson made a about$ 60 million estate tax increase to bridge the gap. People wasted little moment in responding.
” I have a wonderful idea of what we can do with this resources. First, let’s start with cutting off laborers getting completely all, free housing, free teaching, free foods. Yeah, come begin with that. That’ll keep us a lot of money”, one person told Johnson during the meeting’s public remarks, according to Fox News.
” Come began there. Finally, let’s start with you. Your pay. You are going to be known as the worst governor in American story. Let’s begin with cutting yours. You making very little money”, she added.
In April, Johnson’s business made a reminder to people that the governor had taken hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from Chicago. Greg Abbott (R-TX ).
” The City of Chicago has received the third-most asylum seekers of all major cities in the country, behind New York City and Denver, with almost 39, 000 new visitors arriving in the City”, Johnson’s department said in April.
” The City of Chicago, in partnership with the State of Illinois and Cook County, has worked to help new arrivals on the path to self-sufficiency by providing fundamental needs including food, temporary emergency house, essential health care, education, vaccinations, and event management and resettlement supports”, the office added at the time.  ,
Another resident described her experience as an immigrant who was legally immigrant and said she is “very, very embarrassed for what my other fellow Latina citizens are doing in this city on behalf of the taxpayers and the people who contribute to the city.”
” These people came with a wide door open, and they feel like they have many rights that no one else has.” There are U. S. citizens suffering from poverty. There are U. S. citizens on public aid and these people are here just enjoying the benefits, becoming delinquents, and they have no consequences”, she said during public comments.
The New Arrivals Mission will be slowly phased out at the end of this year, bringing a halt to the program’s spending.
Johnson stated in October that” this transition is in line with the recent decline in migration to Chicago and our current budget realities.” ” We are shifting to a more cost-effective, equitable, and strategic approach that addresses homelessness for all who need support in the City of Chicago” . ,
The city will continue to serve as a haven for noncitizen immigrants, according to the mayor.
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Johnson and the City Council promised to balance the budget at a press conference following the meeting, but he insists he’s talking about “progressive revenue” with state and congressional leaders.
Johnson said,” This is an ongoing dynamic that really necessitates progressive bold leadership at this moment.”