General Assembly Leaves Next Year’s Budget Half Complete
On partisan votes, with only Democrats voting yes and all Republicans voting no, the General Assembly passed a $36 billion “spending plan” for fiscal year 2016. No “revenue plan” was passed, leaving the budget for next year only half completed. The spending plan has a $3 billion to $4 billion deficit based on various reports from legislators.
Line items for programs to create affordable housing and programs to end homelessness are a very small part of the budget—less than two-tenths of one percent of the total budget. Funding comes from General Revenue Funds, the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Health and Human Services Medicaid Trust Fund. As the following table shows, the line items we advocate for the most were generally held harmless in the spending plan, with very small cuts to General Revenue Funds and flat funding from other funds.
FY15 BUDGET TO FY16 SPENDING PLAN COMPARED FOR SELECTED LINE ITEMS
| LINE ITEM | FY15 GRF | FY15 OTHER | FY15 TOTAL | FY16 PLAN GRF | FY16 PLAN OTHER | FY16 PLAN TOTAL | TOTAL % CHANGE FY16/15 |
| Emergency and Transitional Housing | – | 9,383.7 | 9,383.7 | – | 9,383.7 | 9,383.70 | 0.00% |
| Homeless Prevention | 1,000.0 | 3,000.0 | 4,000.0 | 975.0 | 3,000.0 | 3,975.00 | -0.63% |
| Homeless Youth | 4,598.1 | 1,000.0 | 5,598.1 | 4555.0 | 1,000.0 | 5,555.00 | -0.77% |
| Supportive Housing Services | 27,392.7 | 3,382.5 | 30,775.2 | 26,915.8 | 3,382.5 | 30,298.30 | -1.55% |
| TOTAL | 32,990.8 | 16,766.2 | 49,757.0 | 32,445.8 | 16,766.2 | 49,212.0 | -1.10% |
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Note: Dollars in $1,000s. “Other” funds for Emergency and Transitional Housing, Homeless Prevention, and Homeless Youth from Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund. “Other” funds for Supportive Housing Services from Health & Human Services Medicaid Trust Fund.
Democrats in the House and Senate have filed procedural motions to keep the spending bills from being sent to Governor Rauner for the time being. The House and Senate will be convening again on June 4 and June 9, respectively, to continue working on next year’s budget and other issues. Fiscal year 2016 starts on July 1.
As negotiations over the budget continue, it’s very important that we keep sending these messages:
- We are pleased that the spending plans rejected proposals that would have imposed drastic and short-sighted cuts to services for families and communities.
- Governor Rauner and state legislators have many revenue options available to them that will produce a responsible state budget with adequate revenue to avoid cuts and make wise investments for the future; and
- Spending for programs to serve the needs of extremely low-income people and other vulnerable populations should not be jeopardized as Governor Rauner and the General Assembly negotiate unrelated issues.
Good Housing Legislation Passes
We are pleased to report that the following positive housing-related legislation passed the General Assembly:
Senate Bill 1440: Reverse Mortgage Consumer Protections (Senate Chief Sponsor: Collins; House Chief Sponsor: Turner). Includes provisions to make sure that seniors considering reverse mortgages are better educated about their responsibilities as a borrower and are protected against predatory lending practices and outright scams. Among the bill’s provisions are creation of a 3-day “cooling off period” from the time the lender makes a written commitment to make a reverse mortgage during which time the borrower cannot be required to close or proceed with the loan. In addition, under most circumstances, the distribution of loan proceeds are restricted to the borrower (and their spouse or partner) in order to keep anyone with a financial conflict of interest from financially benefiting from the reverse mortgage loan. Provides for enforcement by the Illinois Attorney General under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and the Residential Mortgage License Act. Advocated for Housing Action Illinois and Illinois Attorney General.
Senate Bill 1547: People Should Not Be Punished For Calling The Police (Senate Chief Sponsor: Hutchinson; House Chief Sponsor: DeLuca). Creates a necessary protection to survivors of domestic violence and individuals with disabilities in Illinois. It will prevent local governments from enacting or enforcing ordinances that punish tenants for calling 911 in response to domestic or sexual violence, or for crimes committed against them. The bill is a response to local ordinances that treat police calls as “nuisances”—sending a victim-blaming message to survivors of domestic violence and discouraging them from seeking help. Advocated for by Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, ACLU of Illinois, Open Communities, Housing Action Illinois and others.
We encourage Governor Rauner to sign these bills into law.