For nearly forty years, Housing Action Illinois has led the movement to expand affordable housing and end homelessness in Illinois. Our annual policy agenda serves as a roadmap for our advocacy work, which aims to ensure that everyone in Illinois has a safe, affordable place to call home.
As 2025 begins, we are focused on state and federal priorities that help families and communities not just survive, but thrive.
We are also mobilizing against unprecedented threats to essential federal programs that support our most vulnerable residents. Despite growing challenges, our commitment remains steadfast. No matter what comes next, we will continue working to expand housing opportunities for all.
We will also not shy away from prioritizing the needs of people and communities facing the greatest systemic discrimination and marginalization. Whether working to end homelessness, prevent evictions, expand access to affordable rental housing, promote homeownership, or address other critical housing needs, our focus remains on economic and racial justice.
There are many ways to get involved—you can help support this work by learning more, sharing this agenda, endorsing bills, contacting legislators, making a donation, or becoming a member. Whatever action you take, we hope you will join us.
Together, we can create a more just and equitable Illinois.
Federal Priorities
Decisions at a federal level directly impact our state and local communities. In 2025, Housing Action Illinois will mobilize our network to fight against harmful policies and push for investments that sustain our communities. Our federal government, economy, and social infrastructure rely on nonprofits to deliver programs and funding to those who need it most.
Our federal advocacy priorities include increasing and protecting federal investments in rental subsidies, public housing and other subsidized housing, preventing and ending homelessness, housing counseling, homeownership, fair and and healthy housing, accessibility for people with disabilities and community development.
We will also work to prevent the roll back of rules and other administrative policies and procedures that are counter to our core principles: that housing is a basic human need and human right, and that all levels of governments should work together to ensure affordable housing opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances.
Speak Up: Right now, instead of increasing support to tackle the longstanding housing crisis, many members of Congress are pushing harmful budget cuts to spending on basic human needs—threatening homelessness prevention efforts, rental assistance, and homeownership programs. Our advocacy alert makes it easy to urge Congress to protect federal housing resources »
Below, we outline the key ways we approach our work. As with our statewide advocacy efforts, our federal advocacy efforts include:
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Building Coalitions, Mobilizing Local Organizations and Individuals
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We track federal policy changes and share timely updates with our members and allies, providing opportunities for action and coordinating strategic responses.
For example, during the federal spending freeze on January 28, we worked with service providers to assess the impact across Illinois as providers were locked out of payment systems. We shared updates and concerns with Illinois Congressional delegates and state agencies. We also forwarded action alerts from national partners, National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and our efforts helped hundreds of Illinoisans speak up.
While we are glad that the freeze was lifted soon after it went into effect, we know this isn’t over. We will continue to closely track and respond to new developments.
Prior to the tumult of the first weeks of the Trump administration and new session of Congress, on January 13, we hosted a webinar to mobilize around federal advocacy and organizing priorities for the new federal landscape, attended by 350 people.
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Building Relationships with Federal Decision Makers
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At the federal level, we regularly engage with Illinois’ members of Congress and their staff to help them understand local needs and ensure that housing issues remain a priority. We particularly focus on elected officials with key committee assignments related to housing, such as the Senate and House Appropriations Committee, House Financial Services Committee, and House Ways and Means Committee.
See “How We Work To Pass Better Policies” below for more details on our approach to building relationships with legislative decision makers, including state officials and agencies.
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Strong National Partnerships
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We are proud to be a longtime state partner for NLIHC in Illinois. We work with additional national advocacy organizations—such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, National Housing Resource Center, and Community Opportunity Alliance—to shape federal policy and amplify our influence.
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Shaping Public Understanding & Narratives
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We lift up messages that focus on housing solutions that make our communities stronger, moving people to act. We follow national narrative research, identify strong approaches, and share examples and tools with our members and partners.
See “How We Work to Pass Better Policies” below for more details on our media outreach and publications.
2025 General Assembly Agenda
Prevent & End Homelessness
Increase State Funding for the HOME Illinois Plan
We are urging Governor Pritzker to increase funding for HOME Illinois, the state plan to end homelessness, by $100 million. He will announce his budget proposal on February 19. This funding would:
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- Add $40 million to the Emergency and Transitional Housing (ETH) Program
- Increase funding for street outreach, shelter diversion, homelessness prevention, supportive housing, and other HOME Illinois plan components
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The ETH increase would address the shortage of 5,379 emergency shelter beds statewide. Every shelter bed that does not exist represents a person, often a child, in Illinois who has literally no place to call home.
Lack of emergency shelter forces people into unsafe conditions. This is a matter of racial justice—as first identified in our 2019 report and reconfirmed in 2024, Black Illinoisans are eight times more likely to experience homelessness than white residents. Investing in shelter and housing also saves lives and and reduces public health care spending. For example, over five years, homelessness in Illinois resulted in 1.4 million emergency room visits, costing more than $16 billion, according to IDPH.
This would build on the $180+ million funding increases of the past two years, which we helped secure, creating a critically needed sustained investment in initiatives to reach functional zero homelessness in our communities.
Through our work with the Illinois Shelter Alliance, we have garnered official support for this funding increase from more than 250 organizations.
See press coverage of our budget request »
Partners: Illinois Shelter Alliance, Supportive Housing Providers Association, and homeless service providers throughout the state
Stop the Criminalization of Homelessness
Chief Sponsors: Representative Kevin Olickal (HB 1429)
This bill protects people from being fined or penalized for basic survival activities, such as trying to stay warm, resting, and eating. Following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows criminalization of homelessness, local Illinois governments are adopting punitive policies that make it harder for people to secure housing. Instead, we must invest in real solutions.
See press coverage on our proposed legislation »
Learn more & endorse »
Partners include: Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness and homeless service providers from throughout the state
Eliminate Matching Fund Requirements for Emergency Shelter and Supportive Housing Services Programs
Chief Sponsor: Representative Michelle Mussman (HB 1862)
This bill clarifies outdated and misunderstood matching funds requirements for the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Emergency and Transitional Housing (ETH) and Supportive Housing Service programs.
In 1991, a 25% match requirement for ETH (then under a different name) was adopted by rule, but never in law. The program was renamed and changed in recent years, but the rule was never updated. There is no match requirement for Supportive Housing Services in law or rule, but due to a long ago error, IDHS has been requiring a 25% match.
Advance Fair Housing
Pass the Community Safety Through Stable Homes Act
Chief Sponsor: Senator Karina Villa (SB 2264)
This bill prevents discrimination and protects renters from being unfairly forced from their homes due to so-called “crime-free housing and nuisance ordinances” (CFNOs). It will help people contact police without fear and focus on better responses to crime while also keeping families in their homes.
See press coverage regarding introduction of our 2024 legislation on this issue and subsequent coverage from January 2025 on settlement of the case challenging the constitutionality of a local CFNO.
Partners include: Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Illinois Justice Project, National Housing Law Project, Open Communities, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, and Thresholds
Support Housing Counseling
Make Housing Counseling an Eligible Expense for the IAHTF
Chief Sponsor: Senator Mike Simmons (SB 88)
This bill allows (but does not require) the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund to provide funding for housing counseling. HUD-approved housing counselors help individuals and families make informed financial and housing decisions. Their services include classes and one-on-one counseling on qualifying for a mortgage, avoiding foreclosure, improving credit scores, and how to successfully apply for rental housing.
This legislation builds on work we have done with IHDA to advocate that the FHLBank Chicago commit funds to Illinois-based counseling agencies via IHDA. In February 2025, IHDA released a request for applications for a second round of funding, with an increased commitment of $6 million over two years, compared to the $3 million over 3 years that was awarded in 2022.
Partners: HUD-approved housing counseling agencies around the state
Preserve Affordable Homeownership
Support Homeowner and Community Interests in State Legislation on Tyler v. Hennepin Reforms
Chief Sponsors: Senator Celina Villanueva (SB 2029) and Representative Will Guzzardi (HB 3146)
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Tyler v. Hennepin decision, we are advocating for reforms that prioritize the needs of homeowners and communities. We support a solution that would require competitive auction of the property and return the most money to the person who lost their home. Under Illinois’ current system, the party that bought the delinquent property taxes is entitled to ownership of the property and there are very insufficient resources, through county indemnity funds, for people to attempt to get equity payments.
This is a matter of racial justice as well as housing justice; our 2021 research report found that the vast majority of tax sale evictions by the Cook County Sheriff occur in majority Black communities.
We will also continue to pursue reforms that will result in fewer homeowners becoming delinquent on their property taxes and not being able to redeem this debt.
Partners include: Cook County Treasurer’s Office and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago
Learn more about the Tyler v. Hennepin case and reform options for Illinois »
Incentivize Rental Housing Production
Extend and Make Clarifications to the Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program (AHSAP)
Chief Sponsors: Senator Mattie Hunter (SB 1911) and Representative Will Guzzardi (HB 3466)
The Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program (AHSAP) incentivizes private investment in affordable rental housing. Proposed updates include:
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- Extending the sunset on the program through 2037
- Clarifying administrative rules to make it easier for county assessors and property owners to participate
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Since its launch in 2022, AHSAP has allowed owners of eligible properties to receive a reduction in the assessed value of their property in exchange for keeping some rental homes affordable. It has supported the creation of more than 1,000 new affordable rental homes across 6 Illinois counties, including 600 in downtown Chicago. In addition, data from the Cook County Assessor for tax year 2022 shows that more than 750 owners, mostly small and medium-sized, made use of AHSAP for rehab projects.
See press coverage of how AHSAP is creating and preserving affordable rental homes throughout Cook County.
Partners include: Cook County Assessor’s Office, Illinois Housing Council, Metropolitan Planning Council, The Preservation Compact, Related Midwest
How We Work to Pass Better Policies
Building Coalitions, Mobilizing Local Organizations and Individuals
All the work we do is in coalition with others. We build and strengthen our relationships with individuals and with community-based organizations around the state through one-on-one meetings, organizing coalitions to lead issue-based campaigns and facilitating peer-to-peer working groups to discuss and address topics of shared interest. We also make educational presentations in communities around the state and have all our constituencies come together at our annual conference. We have a strong base of members and allies that we can reach out to and mobilize to take action wherever it’s needed.
Examples of our coalition building include our monthly meetings for leaders and members of Illinois’ 19 Continuum of Care networks of homeless service providers and issue-specific working groups.
We have also been doing more to engage grassroots leaders, especially people with lived expertise, to help us educate the community and policy makers about issues such as new state-level source of income fair housing protections. We are also providing resources for Continuums of Care to support their Lived Experience Councils that help inform and guide their work.
Find out about our 2025 annual conference, as well as past conferences »
Building Relationships with Legislators and Decision Makers
During the General Assembly session, we have a consistent presence at the State Capitol to build relationships with state legislators and testify at committee hearings. We also assist our members and allies with in-district meetings, sign-on letters, and other methods of advocacy. Finally, we encourage and provide support for direct service providers to engage their elected officials through site visits at their programs and public education events, such as legislative breakfasts.
We are also in contact with staff at state and federal agencies that oversee programs and policies to give them the feedback we hear from providers and program participants.
Strong Partnerships
In addition to the national partnerships listed in the federal advocacy section above, we prioritize connecting and working with other advocacy groups within our sector and across other sectors. We have strong relationships with other advocates working on issues of creating affordable housing, ending homelessness, fair housing, and tenant’s rights. We also regularly collaborate with groups focused on disability rights, supporting survivors of domestic violence, criminal justice reform, expanding health care access, immigration rights, community revitalization, faith-based groups, local government representatives, lenders, and others.
Shaping Public Understanding & Narratives
In 2025, we are expanding our media outreach to raise awareness, shape public understanding, and build support for critical housing issues. Partnering with NLIHC, we will continue to co-release reports such as The Gap and Out of Reach, which demonstrate the ongoing severe shortage of affordable rental housing for people with the lowest incomes.
We share messaging guidance with our members and allies, such as the guidance we created recently in response to heated public debate about meeting the housing needs of people who were new arrivals to our state.
Our other publications from the past year were focused on describing the shortage of housing counseling resources across the state, a brief guide on how to make use of the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act, Code Enforcement as a Tool for Safe, Equitable & Affordable Housing, and a housing needs action plan for residents and elected leaders in Cairo, Illinois.
Take Action
Sign up for our policy alerts here or get in touch with Bob Palmer, our Policy Director:
bob@housingactionil.org | (312) 939-6075
Support our work by donating or becoming a member today »