<p>Chicago spent $639.6 million to house 46,282 people during the migrant crisis that dominated the first 18 months of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration, 42% of which came from the city’s corporate fund.</p><p>In one of his first official actions as the city’s chief watchdog, Inspector General David Glockner released what he called an “explainer” on the city's involvement with the migrant crisis, a report that includes final spending numbers and a conclusion that the Johnson administration followed its procurement and payment procedures.</p><p>The numbers tell the story.</p><p>Before the caravan of buses started descending on Chicago, city-owned homeless shelters operated by the Department of Family and Support Services had a capacity of just 3,000 beds. That was nowhere near enough to accommodate the avalanche of migrants — most from Venezuela, with lesser numbers from the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.</p><p>To absorb the new arrivals, the city opened 38 emergency shelters with a combined capacity of 15,000 as well as a landing zone that served as a “centralized intake hub where the city assessed people’s immediate needs” for food and clothing, and placed them in shelters.</p><p>Even that was not enough to accommodate the influx.</p><p>Beginning in April 2023, one month before Johnson took office, Chicago relied heavily on district police stations and O’Hare and Midway Airports to handle the overflow.</p><p>“By October 2023, over 3,000 such people remained in district stations throughout the city, a population larger than the maximum capacity of the pre-existing shelter system,” Glockner’s analysis stated.</p><p>“CPD stated that this use greatly impacted the district stations, which were not designed or equipped to have people living in them. … The Department needed to repair and clean restrooms more often during this time.