Housing-Related Bills Advance in Springfield

Housing advocates are advancing bills to benefit Illinois families who need affordable housing. This year legislation has been introduced to build new affordable housing, to subsidize additional rental housing for low-income families, and to help improve the access of low-income families to existing housing. While advocates have scored some initial victories, more advocacy is required to ensure that this legislation will continue to move through the Illinois legislature.

Earlier this year the Illinois House Housing and Urban Development Committee passed the Source-of-Income Amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act (House Bill 45) with a 14-to-1 vote (with one member voting present), and it now awaits a floor vote in the House. At present applicants for rental housing in many areas of the state are routinely rejected from rental housing solely because of the source of their income. The Source-of-Income Amendment would require landlords to consider the application of any tenant who can afford the unit, regardless of the tenant’s legal source of income, including child support, disability payments, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, as well as Housing Choice Vouchers and other rent subsidy programs.

The amendment has over eighty endorsing organizations and strong bipartisan support, including thirty-one House cosponsors led by Reps. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) and Paul Froehlich (R-Schaumburg). The deadline for consideration of the amendment has been extended, and housing advocates expect important votes in the House and Senate in May. In the meantime, readers are encouraged to contact their House and Senate legislators and ask that they support H.B. 45 since this legislation is vital to many low-income families and persons with disabilities.

On April 14 the Senate passed the Rental Housing Supportprogram (Senate Bill 75), which would subsidize up to four thousand units of housing for very low-income families throughout the state and would be funded by a nominal $10 state surcharge on all real estate documents filed at offices of the county recorder of deeds. This year the program has been redesigned slightly to exempt state agencies from paying the surcharge. The Senate passed S.B. 75 by a 36-to-22 vote (with one member voting present). Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) sponsored the bill; Reps. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) and Terry Parke (R-Schaumburg) are leading the bipartisan support for the bill in the House. S.B. 75 has now been referred to the House Rules Committee, and readers are urged to contact their legislators to ask them to help this bill get to a floor vote.

The Senate also overwhelmingly passed S.B. 966, an amendment to the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act originally passed in 2003 to encourage local municipalities to enact zoning plans to create and preserve affordable housing or to subject their zoning decisions to appellate review by a state board of zoning appeals. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Highwood), provides for additional tools for non-home-rule municipalities to meet their affordable-housing production goals, including local housing trust funds and community land trusts. It also enables municipalities to enter intergovernmental agreements with neighbors to pool affordable housing resources. After passing with a 52-to-2 vote in the Senate, S.B. 966 now moves to the House, where Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) becomes its chief sponsor.

The Illinois House also passed legislation (H.B. 603) to extend the state’s Donations Tax Credit program by five years, through 2011. The program, previously set to expire in 2006, provides tax credits (50 cents for each dollar donated) for taxpayers who specifically donate to affordable housing developments. Since 2001 the program has funded 92 proposals totaling over 6,200 units of housing throughout the state. Sen. William Peterson (R-Buffalo Grove) is now sponsoring H.B. 603 in the Senate.

For more information, contact Raj Nayak at 312.263.3830 ext. 243.