Our past Annual Reports are
available for download as PDF files by clicking on the links below:
Selected Timeline of Housing Action
Illinois’ Accomplishments and Activities:
1986-2006
1986: The Campaign
for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund begins, and its organizers
identify a need for a collaborative statewide organization
to move affordable housing and tenant right issues forward. The
Statewide Housing Action Coalition (SHAC) is founded.
1987: SHAC
holds its first convention for housing advocates to gather
ideas and information to prioritize legislative efforts.
The Campaign
to Save Subsidized Housing is created to protect the tenants
of 14,000 assisted section 8 units from displacement due to contract
prepayments.
1988: SHAC hires
its first paid staff person, who moves into the offices of the
Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing. SHAC joins
the “three cents for housing” campaign to get City
of Chicago to spend 3% of its budget on affordable housing.
1989: After four
years of work, legislation creating the Illinois Affordable Trust
Fund becomes law. To date, the Trust Fund has created and preserved
more than 36,000 affordable units.
1990: SHAC publishes
the first issue of Trust Fund News, an in-depth housing
magazine focusing on issues for non-profit developers.
In October, SHAC helps organize
Chicago Affordable Housing Coalition Housing Summit and March
for Affordable Housing as part of “three cents for housing” campaign.
SHAC begins providing technical
assistance to nonprofit housing developers. To date, this
work has resulted in the development or preservation of more
than 1,400 affordable units.
1991- 1992: SHAC
restructures itself to focus on rebuilding its internal organization
and fundraising. SHAC begins the Affordability Campaign.
1993: SHAC becomes
state partner of The National Low Income Housing Coalition Board,
a relationship that continues to the present, and is invited
to join Center for Community Change Public Housing Advisory Board.
SHAC campaigns for tenant representation
on Public Housing Authority Boards, property tax exemptions for
non-profit owned affordable housing, and minimum housing standards
for private rental housing.
1994: This year’s
annual convention kicks off the Housing Justice for Illinois
Campaign, part of a national campaign to increase public awareness
and action to address the affordable housing crisis. The
campaign is a response to Newt Gingrich’s Contract with
America.
1995: Housing Justice
Campaign holds press conference and April 15 “tax day” rally
to protest proposed cuts to federal housing budget.
SHAC receives two multi year
grants from HUD, allowing for the addition of two more staff,
totaling 3!!!
1996: Campaign for creation
of state Department of Housing and establishment of Tenant’s
Rights Ombudsman within the office of Attorney General.
1999: As co-leader of
the It Takes a Home to Raise a Child Campaign with the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless, successfully advocated for the creation
of the Homelessness Prevention Program, which to date has assisted
more than 44,000 families experiencing a temporary crisis, such
as job loss or a health care emergency, with one-time grants
to keep them housed.
After a four-year campaign,
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) reform legislation, requiring housing
impact studies and compensation for displaced households, is
signed into law.
2000: The Illinois Assisted
Housing Research and Action Project (IHARP), a partnership with
the UIC Vorhees Center and Latinos United, releases its first
report on expiring Section 8 contacts. IHARP is the first comprehensive
computerized database of assisted housing units in Illinois.
2002: SHAC mobilizes
more than 500 individuals to participate in statewide affordable
housing hearings, which leads to the establishment of the Governor’s
Housing Task Force, an annual state housing plan, and committees
on housing in the Illinois House and Senate and other victories.
Persistent advocacy via the “It
Takes a Home to Raise a Child” campaign secures a critical
$4 million increase to the Homelessness Prevention Program Budget.
IHARP releases Evaluation
of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program in Illinois.
2003: A new five
year strategic plan is completed.
At SHAC’s request, Governor
Rod Blagojevich declares March 10-16 as Affordable Housing Week
in Illinois, a week of public education events throughout the
state that SHAC began organizing annually in 1986.
SHAC holds 8 Housing Development
Orientations to assist community planners, local elected officials,
and others integrate affordable housing into overall development
plans for small cities in Illinois.
2004: SHAC merges
with Illinois Housing Counseling Professionals.
Launches the Community Housing
Developers Institute, a comprehensive workshop series that has
enhanced the housing development skills of more than one hundred
people from Illinois not-for-profits.
SHAC continues its annual collaboration
with the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) to protect
the HUD budget. The cuts proposed by the Bush administration
in 2005 are particularly severe but mostly averted in the end.
IHARP releases Evaluation of
the HOME Program in Illinois.
Begins working with community leaders
in DuPage Housing Action Coalition.
Housing Action Illinois works with
community organizers in Kane County to found the Kane County
Housing Coalition.
2005: SHAC changes
its name and image to Housing Action Illinois.
After a three-year campaign
by the It Takes a Home to Raise a Child Campaign, legislation
creating the Rental Housing Support Program, with a dedicated
funding stream of $25 million in its first year, is signed into
law.
Housing Action Illinois works
with the Metropolitan Planning Council and Illinois Housing Development
Authority to expand REACH, a statewide employer assisted housing
program.
Housing Action Illinois works
with community organizers in DeKalb to found the DeKalb County
Housing Coalition.
2006: Housing
Action Illinois worked with member organizations to secure $11
million for Homeless Prevention Funding, a 120% increase from
the previous year.
Housing Action
Illinois organizes coalition efforts to pass that Safe Homes
Act, which allows victims of domestic violence and sexual assault
that are renters, to change the locks to their apartment and/or
break their lease in order to protect their physical safety under
certain circumstances.