The city council did not vote on the bill to help the homeless, the progressive party criticizes the mayor

CHICAGO — It was hoped that delaying the start of a City Council meeting would get enough aldermen present to vote on a plan to help the homeless.

The Bring Chicago Home plan calls for a more than $1 million increase in the city’s property transfer tax, which brings in roughly $160 million a year to fund the city’s homelessness programs.

The resolution also planned to offer mental health and employment services to the approximately 65,000 homeless people living in Chicago.

In the end, the city council lacked a quorum for one chairmanship, which means that the vote did not pass.

While the mayor presided over the previous meeting, it was allegedly clear that she did not want the meeting to be overheard. Members of the progressive assembly called her out when she tried to interrupt the meeting.

“The problem isn’t Bring Home Chicago, the problem is people who didn’t show up to vote because they’d rather do what the mayor tells them to do than their job,” said April Harris of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. .

Despite efforts to gather enough MPs to vote on the bill, the delay did not help matters. Only 25 council members were in the room an hour later, meaning they were unable to hold a vote on whether to put the “Bring Chicago Home” plan on the ballot for Chicago voters.

There’s still a chance that referendum could be placed on the February ballot, and that will happen on Tuesday when the rules committee meets to discuss the planned referendum in February.

“We will not give up this fight — ever,” Harris said.