Chicago City Council members shared emotional stories about domestic violence in their own families as they backed the creation of a joint Chicago-Cook County task force to break down bureaucratic barriers standing in the way of help for domestic violence victims.
The resolution championed by 23rd Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares calls for the city and county to join forces in creating an intergovernmental task force that meets monthly to pinpoint ways the system is failing domestic violence victims. After six months, the task force would recommend changes that would be aired at a public hearing.
The City Council’s Public Safety Committee backed the idea Monday, setting the stage for a final vote at Friday’s Council meeting.
During the committee meeting, an emotional 26th Ward Ald. Jessie Fuentes told fellow Council members on the Public Safety Committee that her younger sister is domestic violence survivor and a victim of a system that “failed her many times,” in a way that “could have cost her her life.”
“In many instances, she was told that if she would just behave, maybe he wouldn’t be so mad — or can she go home and agree with the father of her child so that this wouldn’t be another case stopped up in the court that a judge has to deal with,” Fuentes told her colleagues.
Calling the issue of domestic violence “personal to me,” Fuentes said, “I stand firm in my commitment to support — not just to support the task force, but every other investment that’s needed so that we don’t have to bury loved ones at the fault of a broken system.”
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) was just as emotional as he conveyed that his mother was a victim of domestic violence. The abuse that he and his mother endured during his childhood is still difficult to discuss, Lopez said.
“Once you start talking about what you lived with, you start remembering everything that you lived with and all of its horribleness,” Lopez said. “It’s easy to overlook the fact that, when you are in that situation, you have almost zero options. … To think that you could just call the police and expect some resolution never quite happens.”
Key city players on the task force would include the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
At a time when homicides, shootings and most other categories of violent crime have declined precipitously, domestic violence stands out as a deepening crisis.
While instances of domestic violence battery and assault have decreased slightly, domestic violence homicides are up 27% compared to last year, with 47 people killed so far in 2025 as of Nov. 7, according to police data.
Meanwhile, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed $16.6 billion budget would reduce funding for gender-based violence services by 43% — to $12 million from $21 million. That’s largely because of spent-down COVID-19 relief dollars that were always set to run out, but also because revenue from the city’s 2% surcharge on AirBNB, Vrbo and other home-share rentals has been cut nearly in half.
“This task force is about government fixing government, working to ensure systemic failures are not costing lives, but saving them,” Tabares told her colleagues.
Despite the broader decline in Chicago homicides, Tabares said murders tied to domestic violence “continue to rise … claiming mothers, daughters, sisters and partners” in homes that should be safe spaces.
“These are not random acts of violence. They are preventable tragedies that follow patterns we already know too well,” Tabares said.
Tabares added that “what stands between too many victims and real protection is not a lack of laws, but a broken bureaucratic maze that confuses, delays and ultimately fails” those who need help the most.
“A survivor calling 911 needs more than a police report. She needs an order of protection served quickly, a court date that actually happens, a prosecutor who follows through and enforcement that keeps the abuser away,” Tabares said.
“That chain breaks too often. Paperwork gets lost between agencies. Court backlogs stretch for months,” Tabares added. “High-risk offenders are released without adequate monitoring. And victims are left to navigate a dozen different departments alone. Every delay, every handoff, every outdated form is another chance for a dangerous person to strike again. This task force seeks to change that.”
Ald. Peter Chico (10th) told his own firsthand story. As a Chicago police officer, he was on the scene of “hundreds” of domestic violence calls. It’s the kind of call that police officers fear the most, he said.
“The most difficult thing for me was … going to the same house over and over and over again,” Chico said.