Chicago man details how he's self-funding and using his property to help migrant families

One Chicago man is making it his mission to help provide housing and work for the many of the migrant families flooding the city's streets.

Chris Amatore, president and founder of Manage Chicago, a management company in the south side of Chicago that specializes in section 8 properties, decided to open up several of his properties for migrant families that had nowhere else to go.

"I've been in the real estate game for like 20 years. So I have a lot of units, so I was just filling the ones that I had vacant that I was going to move," Amatore told Fox News Digital.

Amatore explained that before this endeavor he was not fully aware of the extent to which illegal migrants were entering the city.

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Migrants stand in line to receive food from the nonprofit Chi-Care Thursday, Jan. 11. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

"I didn't really know anything about the migrant crisis like before, probably like a month ago now," he said.

In early January, Amatore said he and his son had gone down to the "landing station" for migrants in Chicago after hearing about people "eating out of garbage cans" and not wearing "jackets."

"So we just went down with some jackets that we had in our closets that were collecting cobwebs and stuff like that. And we brought some food," Amatore shared. 

At the time, Amatore recalled the weather forecast was due to be below freezing in Chicago. After learning that many migrants had no place to go with the impending cold weather, the property owner took action. 

He told Fox News Digital that he decided to take the 54 people at the landing station and house them in one of his eight-unit buildings. 

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Now, Amatore says he is providing housing to nearly 500 migrants across 15 of his buildings. He added that he had to hire a social worker for his company just to help assist the migrants that are living in his units. 

Amatore said helping out has cost him upwards of $200,000, to pay for beds, pillows, groceries, and utility bills.

"I went to the shelter at 2241 South Halsted in the Pilsen neighborhood. And then I was just blown away. They're putting 2,500 people in this abandoned warehouse, and then [it's] all the women and children," Amatore said when he visited one shelter.

Recently arrived migrants in a makeshift shelter operated by the city of Chicago at O'Hare International Airport on Aug. 31, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) ((Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))

"I got to see out of those 2,500 people, at least 1,500 are under the age of like 10 or 12," he continued. 

Shortly after he decided to help the migrants, Amatore began the "Saint Christopher Project," an initiative to employ migrants to clean up Chicago's streets.

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"I spent over $13,000 in one day, buying trash bags this and that, and we literally cleaned up the whole Seventh Ward," Amatore, said. Over 200 migrants helped with the cleaning and each received $120 in cash from Amatore. 

Amatore said the migrants began calling him Saint Christopher, which he later learned was the "patron [saint] of travelers," which is where the name for this project stemmed.

Construction of a government-run tent encampment for migrants is underway, Monday Dec. 4, 2023, in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration on Tuesday, Dec. 5 announced it is scrapping construction of the temporary winter camp for migrants, citing the risk of contaminants at the former industrial site.  (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, file)

"All they want is a job. That's it. I'm telling you, they don't even want free housing," he said, pressing how much these families wanted to be given the opportunity to work for what they needed. "They don't want to be in the shelter either. They want their dignity, and they just want a job."

Although, not everyone is happy with Amatore's work. He told Fox News Digital he has received some backlash for his efforts. 

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Amatore explains that regardless of any pushback, he feels compelled to help these people, especially the children, "in the streets like Jesus would do."

"I have no agenda. I'm not making money on this. I don't want to," Amatore said. "I'm not trying to be self-righteous, but who cares why they're here? Help them. You know? I mean, there's people that need help."