Officials say St. Bartholomew shelter for migrants is “still happening.” Mayor Johnson says city is working on opening just one shelter right now

by BRIAN NADIG

Despite weeks of delays, officials say plans to open a temporary migrant shelter inside the former Saint Bartholomew school and convent in Portage Park are still in the works, and Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city is working to “bring one online.”

“It’s still happening,” Alderwoman Ruth Cruz (30th) said earlier this month. She added that there is a general agreement but no signed lease, which reportedly could include free rent.

The Archdiocese of Chicago issued the following statement on March 19: “We continue to work with the city, county and other involved parties on the potential Saint Bartholomew’s shelter location.”

At a March 20 press conference, Mayor Brandon Johnson said that there have been a number of archdiocesan buildings that have “not been suitable for this mission.”

“We are working with the archdiocese to bring one online. There is a whole lot going on to open a shelter,” Johnson said when asked about the shelters. He did not specify which one. “It’s not as simple as here is a building, take it.”

“Right now there is one that is close to being put online,” Johnson said.

Plans call for families to initially move into the former convent at 4933 W. Patterson Ave. and then the former grammar school building at 4910 W. Addison St., where shower facilities would have to be added, Cruz said. The former junior high building at 4941 W. Patterson Ave. is not part of the plan.

In all, the parish campus is expected to house as many as 350 new arrivals at one time.

The Chicago Sun-Times on March 13 reported that the mayor failed to take the archdiocese up on its offers of free rent to set up shelters at about a dozen closed schools, churches and other buildings. The city has opted instead to rent private shelter space at high costs, the Sun-Times said. At the press conference the mayor said that that report was not entirely accurate.

He said that not all buildings were offered up “for free.” The mayor said there was some conversation initially about being flexible for 6 months about payments but not free “in perpetuity.”

City officials have said that the city has no plans to open additional shelters, but Cruz maintains that the use of Saint Bartholomew was still a good possibility and that she believed the project would ultimately move forward. “There is communication between all parties,” she said.

Initial plans had called for migrants to start being housed on the parish campus in January. In late January, the parish announced that while the project was delayed, efforts to bring the shelter to fruition were still in the works, with the goal of figuring out how to best “humanely” house families on the campus.

The Portage Park parish merged in 2021 with the Saint Pascal and Our Lady of Victory parishes to form the new Our Lady of the Rosary Parish. The Saint Bartholomew Church, 3601 N. Lavergne Ave., and Saint Pascal Church, 3935 N. Melvina Ave., remain open, while the Our Lady of Victory Church, 5212 W. Agatite Ave., closed in late 2021.

More than 34,000 migrants have come to Chicago since August of 2022. Late last year the state shut down a city plan to build a large encampment in Brighton Park due to environmental concerns. 

Cyryl Jakubowski contributed.

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