The Illinois General Assembly wrapped up its spring session on May 31. Here’s a summary of the state budget and legislative work as it impacts efforts to create affordable housing and end homelessness.
State Budget
Despite small increases for some line items, the final fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget passed by the General Assembly at the end of May was disappointing, as the 5% income tax passed in 2011 was not maintained. This will result in a $1.8 billion revenue loss during the second half of next fiscal year and a deficit of almost $4 billion going into FY 2016.
(The budget pressures to be faced in the future were compounded at the beginning of May by the General Assembly not approving a ballot referendum to allow the voters to decide whether the Illinois Constitution can allow for a fair income tax, where higher rates apply to higher income levels, and lower rates to lower income levels.)
In the FY 15 budget, line items specifically for affordable housing and/or to end homelessness were generally flat funded or given small increases, demonstrating that there is commitment in the General Assembly for these issues, which we are very thankful for. However, for the third year in a row much of the revenue for these programs is coming from the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund rather than General Revenue Funds (GRF). Using Trust Fund resources to fund social service programs is not ideal, as it reduces the resources available to develop and preserve actual affordable housing units.
FY 15 funding for specific line items was:
- The Emergency and Transitional Housing Program was flat-funded at $9.4 million, with 100% of these funds coming from the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
- The Homeless Prevention Program was flat-funded at $4 million, with $3 million coming from the Housing Trust Fund and $1 million from the General Revenue Funds (GRF). (In the House version of the budget based on maintaining the 5% income tax, this program was funded at $6 million.)
- The Homeless Youth Program was funded at $5.6 million, a $1 million increase from FY14, with $1 million from the Housing Trust Fund and $4.6 million from GRF.
- Supportive Housing Services were funded at $30.5 million, a $2.7 million increase, with $27.1 million from GRF and $3.4 million from the Health and Human Services Trust Fund. The increase was necessary to fund the supportive services for an additional 896 people in projects scheduled to open during the next fiscal year.
Avoiding deep cuts to other areas of the budget was accomplished by short-term, unsustainable measures, including borrowing $660 million from special state funds, money that must be repaid with interest within 18 months, and not funding $380 million in employee salary and health insurance benefit cost increases.
It’s been widely reported that there will be additional deliberations about Illinois’ income tax structure in the General Assembly’s post-election veto session, so our advocacy on this issue with our state budget partners (All Chicago, Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Heartland Alliance and the Supportive Housing Providers Association) and others will surely continue.
Legislation
A few good pieces of housing legislation passed this session:
Senate Bill 3147 extends the Housing Opportunity Tax Abatement Program through tax year 2024. Originally passed in 2003 and implemented in 2004, the program provides an incentive for property owners in “opportunity areas” to rent a portion of their apartments to households using Housing Choice Vouchers. In an average year, approximately 2,500 abatements are awarded throughout the Chicago metropolitan area and a few other counties, mostly to property owners renting to one voucher household. The program reduces the overconcentration of vouchers in high-poverty areas and increase landlord interest in “opportunity areas” with job growth and low poverty. Without the legislation extending the program, it would have ended in tax year 2014. We welcome extension of the program, although improvements Housing Action advocated for were not included in the bill that passed.
Senate Bill 3551 makes several changes to Illinois Migrant Labor Camp Law that will provide the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), working with the Illinois Attorney General, more power to enforce requirements that Migrant Labor Camps be licensed and inspected, as well as improving the enforcement structure to better hold camp operators liable for not meeting required health and safety standards, especially for violations that may lead to serious injury or death. IDPH worked with advocates for migrant farm workers, including Housing Action Illinois, to improve areas of the bill regarding the license application and pre-occupancy inspection processes.
House Bill 4123, advocated for by the Mobile Home Owners Association of Illinois, makes several changes to Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act, including requirements for written notice to each homeowner if a community is sold and/or enters bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings; posting in a public place of any inspection reports regarding health and life safety violations of state laws and/or rules; and that homeowner security deposits not be commingled with the assets of the landlord or subject to the claims of any creditor of the park owner.
Other major accomplishments of the session were stopping two problematic pieces of legislation. House Bill 5395 would have taken responsibility away from the Cook County Sheriff for conducting residential evictions in ways that would be harmful for those being evicted and raise liability issues for landlords and local governments. House Bill 1532 would have exposed renters to eviction without adequate due process protections for allegations of minor municipal ordinance violations. The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law led these efforts.
Some good bills did not pass, including efforts by Housing Action, Shriver Center and Heartland Alliance to create consumer protections for people paying tenant application fees for rental apartments. House Bill 4778 didn’t pass due to opposition from groups representing Realtors and apartment owners.
Thank You
Housing Action Illinois thanks everyone who responded to our action alerts and otherwise reached out to their legislators during the session in support of efforts to pass good legislation and a state budget that prioritizes basic human needs like education, health care and housing. The actions of our members and allies increases our collective power to expand access to affordable housing and end homelessness for low-income households, particularly for people with lowest incomes.