A new task force is working to build relationships with migrants sheltered in Oak Park, find affordable housing for those families and individuals and provide access to legal services.
The Oak Park Resettlement Task Force is supported by Community of Congregations, in partnership with Housing Forward and West Cook YMCA as well as other volunteers.
Roughly 160 migrants who came to Oak Park at the end of last October are staying in temporary locations around town. Migrants at the YMCA and The Carleton Hotel of Oak Park must leave by Feb. 29.
Rev. Colin Knapp, president of Community of Congregations, said while the village is providing immediate short-term housing, the task force wants to help migrants with a long-term plan. Sustainable housing for migrants may or may not be in Oak Park, he said.
“Oak Park is a very expensive place to live,” he said.
Maya Puentes, a realtor in Oak Park, is working to find affordable housing for migrants through her professional connections.
“What they have going on right now is not a life that they came here to live,” she said. “They want to be independent.”
The task force does not want the migrants without permanent housing to be sent back to shelters, Puentes said. Despite obstacles, such as a lack of available housing, negotiations with landlords who are wary about renting to the migrants and an ongoing search for funding, Puentes said the task force is up for the challenge.
The task force has a standing appointment with Village of Oak Park staff to keep both organizations updated on the efforts to find migrants housing, Knapp said. But the task force is an entity independent of the local government since a partnership did not come to fruition, Betty Alzamora, board member on the Indivisible Chicago Alliance and task force member, said.
Keeping families who have children enrolled in local schools is one of the task force’s priorities, Knapp said.
“The task force’s bottom line goal is that we don’t want to send folks back to Chicago, to the landing zone,” he said. “We don’t want people to have to start over.”
The task force is fundraising to help with housing costs for migrants, Knapp said. It is working with the state to apply for grants as well as asking for donations within congregations and through its website.
“The generosity of Oak Park and the surrounding communities of the western suburbs has lifted up all our spirits,” Alzamora said. “It has really affirmed that this is in fact a welcoming part of the world.”
Alzamora said she’s been helping Venezuelan migrants since 2022. When the recent group came to Oak Park in October, she helped acquire tents and blankets for them to endure the extreme weather.
“It’s a combination of a faith-led effort as well as a community-led effort,” she said. “People would’ve died if we had left them out there.”
Alzamora, a first-generation United States citizen from Venezuela, said she has an emotional tie to a lot of the migrants. She recognizes the need for community organization to help address situations like the one in Oak Park.
The task force is an attempt to show immigrants they are welcome, Alzamora said, by identifying concrete living options for them. After presenting migrants with housing options, the decision is ultimately theirs.
“The beauty of being a volunteer is the close relationships that we’ve been able to build,” she said. “Being able to develop those relationships directly with [the migrants] I think is invaluable. That’s a priceless asset, that I wish the village could actually leverage better,” she said.
Puentes said assisting the migrant individuals and families in Oak Park is a feasible goal compared to finding solutions for the entire humanitarian crisis facing Chicago and beyond.
“It was really important that I made them feel as comfortable as possible,” she said. “I wanted them to feel seen.”
She said she’s looking for housing that will be the most economical for the migrants so they can afford rent after the task force is no longer there to help. The task force is currently planning to help with rental support for about 12 months, she said.
“This is going to take a village and then some,” she said. “Literally and figuratively.”
The task force is contingency planning for temporary solutions if it is unable to accomplish its goals before the Feb. 29 deadline, Puentes said. Right now, its backup is to organize home shares while continuing to pursue options, she added. Home shares would include the community welcoming migrants into their homes for a certain amount of time.
The task force is also working to provide legal counsel for migrants, Puentes said, so they can learn how to apply for asylum if desired.
“Everyone needs support, no matter who you are,” she said.
Clarification 1/17/24: This article has been updated to reflect clarifications about the nature of rental expenses and participants of home shares.
Correction 1/17/24 10:30 a.m.: Because of incorrection information provided to the Wednesday Journal, the article previously misstated the task force’s fundraising efforts. We regret the error.
