For nearly forty years, Housing Action Illinois has led the movement to expand affordable housing and end homelessness across our state. Our year-round collaboration with other advocates, our members and allies, direct service providers, and people with lived experience of housing instability informs this annual policy agenda, which serves as a roadmap for our advocacy work.
Our 2026 Policy Agenda includes a variety of federal and state level initiatives focused on:
- Protecting federal housing programs »
- Ending homelessness »
- Expanding affordable rental housing & protecting renters »
- Promoting sustainable homeownership »
Join our 2026 Policy Agenda Kickoff webinar on January 28 to learn more. Register »
The Problems We Face Today
As 2026 begins, we recognize that the landscape in which we’ve been working has changed drastically. Still, we are facing a situation long in the making: the culmination of many years of under-investment in affordable housing, stagnant wages, rising rents, and systemic discrimination. The supply of affordable homes is simply not enough to meet our communities’ needs.
As federal policy decisions have exacerbated the increase in costs for basic needs such as housing, health care, and food, the term and issue of “affordability”—though not new—has caught on in the public discourse and gained fresh urgency.
While people facing housing instability all have their own unique challenges, they share one thing in common: the need for a stable, affordable home that can serve as a foundation for their lives. We continue to make sure public resources and policies relate to housing as a basic human need and a human right.
For all the issues we work on, we can point to data and other evidence that systemic inequities and discrimination worsen these problems and disproportionately impact people based on race, ethnicity, disability, gender, age and other factors. All of our campaigns we work on have a racial and/or economic justice component.
Advancing Solutions
This agenda focuses on investments and policy changes that will bring us closer to an Illinois where everyone has a stable, affordable place to call home. Housing Action prioritizes systemic change that will end homelessness, expand affordable rental housing, and build sustainable homeownership in all Illinois communities.
We support proven strategies—such as Housing First programs, tenant protections, fair housing enforcement, housing counseling, and homelessness prevention—while aiming to address root causes. Our emphasis is on policies that will stabilize households, preserve existing affordable housing, prevent displacement, and create pathways to long-term housing security and homeownership.
In the past year, we have faced tumultuous challenges at the federal level, and in 2026, we will continue to ramp up our federal advocacy in response. At the same time, we will advocate for key state legislation that protects people, communities, and programs that work.
There are many ways to get involved; you can support this work by:
- Sharing this agenda
- Visiting our newly launched Action Center to join campaigns, endorse bills, contact legislators, and more
- Becoming a member
- Making a donation
Whatever action you take, we hope you will join us.
2026 Federal Policy Agenda
Advocating for People Who Need Housing and Protecting the Federal Programs that Serve Them
In 2025, the Trump Administration significantly reduced HUD’s workforce and proposed eliminating many programs entirely, as well as recommending cutting the HUD budget in half. As we enter 2026, essential, evidence-based programs that have been historically under-funded are facing intensified threats.
We are advocating for the highest possible funding level for the HUD budget, overall. Specific programs and resources at stake, which we are mobilizing to defend, include:
- Housing First programs to end homelessness. More than $182 million in current Continuum of Care funding is at risk; these resources support permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing and other critical programs across Illinois.
- Fair housing education and enforcement. These programs protect people from housing discrimination and ensure the freedom to live in the community of one’s choice.
- Housing counseling programs. These provide unbiased, expert guidance to help individuals and families achieve financial stability, become homeowners or renters, and navigate challenges such as eviction or foreclosure.
- Housing Choice Vouchers, which make it possible for nearly 100,000 households in Illinois to afford the rent and lift families with children, people with disabilities, seniors and others out of poverty.
We know that other challenges and needs will arise during the year, and we will be prepared to respond and defend other programs and policies as needed.
2026 Illinois General Assembly Agenda
Preventing & Ending Homelessness
Protect & Increase Funding for the State Plan to End Homelessness
We need continued annual state investments in homelessness programs to address current threats to federal funding and to fully implement HOME Illinois, the state’s plan to prevent and end homelessness. While the state is facing its own budget challenges, we cannot stop investing in programs that serve our most vulnerable residents, people who have no place to call home.
Shelters and outreach programs continue to be overstretched and underfunded, hourly wage workers and families are sleeping in cars, and punitive local responses—such as ticketing and fining people who are unsheltered for sleeping in parks or in their cars, or for resting on park benches—are on the rise.
We are urging Governor Pritzker to support modest funding increases for HOME Illinois, totaling $28.5 million, to both advance the state’s plan to prevent and end homelessness and to help offset potential losses in federal funding. We request:
- $14 million increase for the Emergency and Transitional Housing (ETH) program to fund approximately 700 new shelter beds. This investment addresses part of the 5,379 shelter beds identified as needed in the HOME Illinois plan and is especially critical as more municipalities pass ordinances that outlaw encampments and criminalize homelessness.
- $7.5 million increase across three line items funding Supportive Housing Services. Investments in essential case management services have not kept pace with the expansion of new supportive housing units. Our request will support supportive housing services and provide the necessary services to keep permanent supportive housing residents safe and stably housed.
- $5 million in additional funding for the Homeless Prevention Program to serve approximately 1,350 additional households.
$2 million in funding for the Homeless Youth Program to help providers expand shelter capacity and case management services for youth experiencing homelessness.
Funding these increases will help build on previous investments and help to continue sustained efforts to reach functional zero homelessness in our communities.
Our state budget request is subject to an increase based on what happens with federal funding for the Continuum of Care Program. We also realize that the State of Illinois needs additional progressive revenue to adequately fund these and other priorities (see more information on that below).
For more information, contact: foluke@housingactionil.org
Partners: Homeless service providers throughout the state, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Illinois Shelter Alliance, Supportive Housing Providers Association
Stop Criminalizing People Experiencing Homelessness
Chief Sponsor: Representative Kevin Olickal (HB 1429)
We will continue to work on HB 1429, to stop the increasing criminalization of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by local governments in Illinois. We will also advocate that local governments partner on constructive solutions to ensure that everyone has a safe affordable place to call home, such as increasing street outreach and access to shelter.
This bill protects people from being fined or penalized for basic survival activities, such as trying to stay warm, resting, and eating. In response to a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Johnson v. Grants Pass, we are aware of more than 30 local municipalities that have adopted ordinances criminalizing homelessness.
See press coverage »
Learn more & endorse »
For more information, contact: foluke@housingactionil.org
Partners include: Homeless service providers from throughout the state, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness
Expanding & Preserving Affordable Rental Housing
Pass the Community Safety Through Stable Homes Act
Chief Sponsors: Senator Karina Villa (SB 2264) and Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz
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). These ordinances discourage people from calling 911, disproportionately harm survivors of domestic violence and people with mental health issues, and destabilize households. This legislation will help people contact police without fear and focus on better responses to crime while also keeping individuals and families in their homes.
This legislation builds on five years of organizing and advocacy to challenge local CFNOs across Illinois.
See press coverage regarding introduction of our 2024 legislation on this issue and subsequent coverage about a case challenging a local CFNO »
Read national New York Times press coverage »
Learn more & endorse »
To get involved, contact: megan@housingactionil.org
Partners include: Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Open Communities, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence
Ban Rental Junk Fees and Increase Fee Transparency
Chief Sponsors: Representative Nabeela Syed and Senator Mike Simmons (Bill to be Filed)
This bill addresses the mounting move-in fees and nonoptional junk fees that renters are facing. Fees that have typically been included in the price of rent are now being tacked on, making price shopping for leases difficult and leading to surprise fees for renters. This legislation requires that landlords place all non-optional fees on the first page of the rental agreement, and prohibits 11 different junk fees that are simply unnecessary. The legislation works to ensure that fees are fair and transparent.
Learn more & endorse »
To get involved, contact: megan@housingactionil.org
Partners include: A Just Harvest, Lawyers Center for Better Housing, Uptown People’s Law Center, Supportive Housing Providers Association
Protect Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher Renters From Time Limits and Work Requirements
Chief Sponsors: Senator Ram Villivalam and Representative Maurice West (Bill to be Filed)
This legislation preempts an anticipated Trump administration proposal to allow Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to establish work requirements and time limits for renters in public housing and Housing Choice Voucher holders. The bill will prohibit these types of mandatory requirements, unless required by federal law. Decades of research show these policies are ineffective and costly, as well as difficult to administer. Voluntary programs to help people increase incomes and improve job skills are far more effective and will remain permissible under this bill.
For more information, contact: bob@housingactionil.org
Partners include: Impact for Equity
Preserve Affordable Homeownership
Support Homeowner and Community Interests in Property Tax Sale Reforms
State legislation is forthcoming.
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Tyler v. Hennepin decision, we are advocating for property tax sale reforms that protect homeowners’ equity and prevent unnecessary displacement. Under Illinois’ current tax sale system, people can lose their homes and all accumulated equity over relatively small tax debts. We support a solution that would require competitive auction of the property and return the most money to the person who lost their home.
This is a matter of racial justice as well as housing justice; our 2021 research found that the vast majority of tax sale evictions by the Cook County Sheriff occur in majority-Black communities.
This legislation we are pursuing also includes provisions to prevent homeowners from becoming delinquent on their property taxes in the first place and making it more affordable to redeem past due property taxes.
See press coverage »
Learn more about the Tyler v. Hennepin case and reform options for Illinois »
For more information, contact: bob@housingactionil.org
Partners include: Chicago Community Trust, Cook County President’s Office, Cook County Treasurer’s Office and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago
Even More Priorities
We continue to partner with others on a variety of equally important issues; stay tuned for more information about efforts to advance these and other campaigns:
- Progressive Revenue: As a member of the Illinois Revenue Alliance and Responsible Budget Coalition, we advocate for progressive and equitable revenue streams for the State of Illinois to better fund programs that are essential to basic human needs and help individuals and families thrive. At a time when federal budget cuts to health care, food assistance and more are making it more challenging for the residents of our state, there needs to be a greater focus generating revenue to fund our short and long-term needs. This will require people and corporations with the highest incomes to do a bit more to satisfy the moral imperative of supporting Illinois’ lowest-income households and communities.
- Resources for Senior Home Repair: We are members of Fix Our Homes Illinois, a broad-based coalition dedicated to ensuring that Illinois provides low-income older homeowners the resources they need to age safely, comfortably, and affordably at home.
- Federal and IL CRA: We co-lead the IL CRA Coalition, a group of organizations dedicated to protecting and strengthening the federal and the Illinois Community Reinvestment Acts as tools for building more equitable communities and addressing the racial wealth gap. In 2026, we will continue our outreach and education for community based organizations and other stakeholders about the IL CRA, monitor the state exam process as it ramps up, and be prepared to comment on any proposed federal rule changes should they be released this year.
Other issues we’ll be supporting in 2026 include strengthening Community Land Trusts, the State of Illinois’ Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan, and various measures to increase the supply of housing.