The tent city at Belmont Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway in November 2019. [Mina Bloom/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago leaders are seizing on tens of millions of dollars in federal cash to expand the city’s homeless shelter network, but they acknowledged the endeavor will still only reach a fraction of Chicago’s population experiencing homelessness.

The city’s Department of Family and Support Services Comm. Brandie Knazze detailed the expansion of the city’s shelter system through the conversion of hotels and motels during Monday’s meeting of the City Council’s Subcommittee on the Chicago Recovery Plan. The meeting was the fourth of six meetings being held by aldermen to check in on the city’s spending of Chicago’s federal stimulus dollars as a part of the Chicago Recovery Plan.

Chicago Park District leaders also used the meeting to describe how they are using federal funds to expand the system’s infrastructure, and cycling advocates seized on the meeting to demand safer streets.