CHICAGO - The City of Chicago has signed a $30 million spending increase with Favorite Healthcare Staffing to continue to provide staffing for the city’s temporary migrant shelters – now bringing the total spending limit on Favorite's current contract to more than $70.2 million.
City records show this contract spending increase was signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson on Dec.29 and is connected to the original $40 million contract renewal the city signed with Favorite in October.
The source of the funding for the new spending increase appears to be a state grant from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to the Johnson administration for comment, we are waiting for a response.
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The new contract amendment does not specifically state why the spending increase was necessary other than:
"That the circumstances said to necessitate the change in performance were not reasonably foreseeable at the time the Contract was signed, or that the change is germane to the original Contract as signed, or that the change is in the best interest of the City and is authorized by law.”
The city’s new online spending portal shows since Dec. 2022 Favorite Healthcare Staffing has been paid more $93.7 million.
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The spending increase comes after the Johnson administration renewed its agreement with Favorite Healthcare Staffing in late October.
The controversial Kansas-based company has come under criticism by the Chicago City Council and members of the public for its exorbitant hourly pay rates, which the Johnson administration has repeatedly said it negotiated to lower.
An NBC 5 Investigates investigation previously uncovered how Favorite Staffing routinely billed the city at 84 hours per week for most its staff – including overtime.
If Favorite were to continue billing at that pace, NBC 5 Investigates found it could cost taxpayers between $220K to $859,000 per year per employee – even at newly reduced rates.
NBC 5 Investigates has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for additional invoices and are awaiting those records.
The Johnson administration has previously defending renewing the contract with Favorite – saying it inherited the contracts from the previous administration – and that if it needs a company to staff the city’s shelters.
But even with the new lower rates, staffers hourly rates still range between $40 to $156 per hour.
Favorite has also come under criticism recently from migrants and volunteers, who raised concerns about the conditions inside the migrant shelter located on S. Halsted in Pilsen where a five-year old boy – Jean Carlo Martinez Rivero died in December following a medical emergency.
The cause of the boy’s death remains under investigation, but there were reports that child was sick and had a fever prior to being transported. Medical volunteers have also raised concerns that the medical assessments being provided to the migrants are inadequate.
In a statement released after the boy’s death, Favorite Staffing’s Keenan Driver said:
“We are heartbroken to learn of the death of a child at a Pilsen shelter on Sunday, and we send our deepest condolences to his loved ones and community. We take the safety and wellbeing of all shelter residents seriously. Our team is working closely with the City of Chicago and other authorities to support an investigation into what occurred.”
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to Favorite again Thursday for comment on the contract increase and the criticism of the food and healthcare. A spokeswoman for Favorite referred questions back to the city.
In an email, Ald. Andre Vasquez told NBC 5 Investigates that alders approved the grant money tied to the increase in early November, but the city's records show the contract with Favorite was not amended until Dec. 29.
