(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — City officials met with dozens of nonprofits and community groups on the West Side Thursday, to discuss ongoing plans to combine the resources used in addressing migrants and homelessness under the city’s One System Initiative .
The One System Initiative, would place administration of services for individuals experiencing homelessness and newly arrived migrants under a unified system, with input in the planning stages coming from non profits and other community groups.
Recommendations by these groups were given to the city at this latest meeting. The meeting was held at Deborah’s Place, a shelter on the West Side, dedicated to providing long and short term housing to women, along with a sense of community.
WBBM Newsradio asked Deborah’s Place CEO Kathy Booton Wilson if One System will prioritize either of these vulnerable segments of the city’s population over the other.
“I don’t know what the prioritization will look like. And I don’t really like to think of it as one person taking a bed away from another.”