Affordable Housing is Out of Reach for Low-Wage Illinois Workers

Rent continues to be much higher than what many can afford; families face elimination of rent assistance under proposed federal cuts

For Immediate Release: July 17, 2025
Contact: Kristin Ginger, Director of Communications & Development, Housing Action Illinois, kristin@housingactionil.org or 312-854-3333

CHICAGO, IL – A full-time worker in Illinois must earn $29.81 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment–nearly double the state’s minimum wage of $15 per hour. This is Illinois’ 2025 Housing Wage according to Out of Reach, a report published jointly today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and Housing Action Illinois.

Released annually, the Out of Reach report documents the gulf between wages and what people need to earn to afford their rents. The Housing Wage is an estimate of the hourly wage full-time workers must earn to afford a rental home at HUD’s Fair Market Rent (FMR) without spending more than 30% of their incomes.
Additional findings for Illinois include:

• In the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville metro area, the Housing Wage is $33.87 (based on a 2-BR FMR of $1,761).
• The state’s highest Housing Wage is in the Kendall County metro area, at $36.27 (based on a 2-BR FMR of $1,886).
• The House Wage is more than $20 per hour in many metro areas of Illinois, including Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, DeKalb, Grundy County, Kankakee County, Rockford, Springfield and the metro east area of St. Louis.
• Even in rural counties, the lowest the Housing Wage in Illinois is $16.73 (based on a 2-BR FMR of $870).
• For those of fixed incomes, the housing market is often much worse. For example, a SSI recipient can only afford to pay $290 per month in rent based on receiving $967 in monthly assistance.

Nationally, the 2025 Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $33.63 per hour.

Despite this affordability crisis, federal housing assistance is at risk. On Monday, July 14, House Republicans passed their HUD budget proposal for next year through a subcommittee. While not as drastic as the Trump administration’s proposed 44% overall budget cut for HUD, under the House proposal, inadequate funding still will potentially push nearly 415,000 low-income households across the country off of assistance or cause them to face eviction.

“The House Wage has increased compared to last year; rents keep increasing,” said Bob Palmer, Policy Director for Housing Action Illinois. “The budget that House Republicans passed earlier this week includes unjust and short-sighted deep cuts to public housing and the Housing Choice Voucher Program, as well as inadequate funding for Homeless Assistance Grants, which will result in people losing their assistance and getting evicted.”

Recipients of Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) are particularly vulnerable to becoming homeless if they lose their assistance. EHVs, created in 2021, have provided life-saving housing for 59,000 households nationwide, including over 1,800 in Illinois. But the proposed federal budget includes no dedicated funding to continue the program, placing families back on the brink of homelessness.

Allison’s Story: Allison,* a mother of an 8-year-old, moved from shelter into stable housing with an EHV. The voucher gave her the stability to find a job and support her family. It provided her a way to secure a home with a kitchen to cook meals in, a room for her son to sleep in, and a place from which to work. Without the voucher Allison cannot afford the rent.

“It feels particularly cruel that people who got a voucher that ended their homelessness may now have that assistance stripped away. Congress must increase funding for rent assistance, so that shelters and other service providers have resources to assist individuals and families move from homelessness to being housed,” said Jennifer Hill, Executive Director of the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County. “The budget proposals we have seen so far will only increase evictions and homelessness, because so much of our work relies on being able to assist people to secure apartments in the private market.”

Stories like Allison’s illustrate the vital role of rental assistance in ending homelessness. Without continued federal funding, thousands of Illinois families face losing the homes that have helped them rebuild their lives.

*Allison is a pseudonym; her story was collected by a social services provider and submitted to the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County.

For additional information, and to download the report, visit: http://www.nlihc.org/oor

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About Housing Action Illinois

Housing Action is a statewide coalition that has been leading the movement to end homelessness, address the shortage of affordable rental housing, and expand homeownership opportunities in Illinois for more than 35 years. Our 190+ member organizations include housing counseling agencies, homeless service providers, developers of affordable housing, and policymakers. We bring everyone together to work toward our vision of an Illinois where everyone has a stable, good home.