Get the Facts

Rental Affordability

A home is considered “affordable” if it costs 30% or less of your total income, but many spend much more than this.
Nowhere in Illinois can a full-time minimum wage worker afford rent.
Renters in Illinois need to earn $20.34 per hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. Illinois’ minimum wage is $8.25.

Homelessness

There is no single definition of homelessness. The Point-In-Time count, which has a narrow definition, found 10,798 Illinoisans experiencing homelessness in 2017; a broader estimate found 164,969 in 2016.
In 2016, there were 282,641 people at risk of homelessness in Illinois.

Homeownership

In Illinois, the median home value is 3.1 times greater than the median household income.
This leaves 28.3% of Illinois homeowners “cost-burdened,” or spending more than 30% of their income on the cost of mortgage payments, property taxes, utilities, and other housing costs.

Eviction

56,948 eviction cases were filed against Illinois tenants in 2016.
In those cases, 46% resulted in evictions, indicating that more than 72 Illinoisans and their families lose their homes every day.
Eviction disproportionately affects communities of color. Renters in majority Black neighborhoods in Chicago are four times more likely to face eviction than renters in majority White neighborhoods.

Fair Housing

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 protects against housing discrimination and aims to create equal opportunity in every community.
Nationwide, 28,843 complaints alleging housing discrimination were filed in 2017. This number represents a small portion of all the people impacted by discrimination and lack of housing opportunities.