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Housing
is Still Out of Reach for Many April 7, 2008 The report, Out of Reach 2007-2008, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, DC-based housing advocacy group, and Housing Action Illinois. Federal guidelines state that no one should spend more than 30% of their income on housing,including rent or mortgage payments, utilities, property taxes and insurance. “As rents continue to rise across the state, Illinois workers are spending more and more of their income on their housing and have less money for food, clothing, transportation and other basic needs,” said Mimi Chedid, Policy Coordinator for Housing Action Illinois. “The persistent shortage of affordable rental housing combined with the current economic slowdown—largely caused by the mortgages foreclosure crisis—threatens the economic security of Illinois families.” In Illinois, among metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, the lowest Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $10.15 in the metro-east Bond County metropolitan area. The highest housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $18.15 in the Chicago metropolitan area. In Illinois, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.50. In order to afford market rate rents for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 87 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or a household must include 2.2 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Housing Action Illinois’ mission is to increase and preserve the supply of decent, affordable, accessible housing in Illinois for low-and moderate-income households through advocacy, public education, and technical assistance to nonprofits. Data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country is available online, at www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008. Housing Rountable Update The following bills, developed by organizations that participate in the Illinois Housing Roundtable, were acted upon by the General Assembly prior to the deadline to get bills out of Committee at the end of last week. House Bill 4730: Click here for status House Bill 5170: Click here for status House Bill 5189: Click here for status Senate Bill 2007: Click here for status Senate Bill 2287: Click here for status These additional positive affordable housing bills have also passed out of Committee: House Bill 4352: Click here for status House Bill 4769: Click here for status (Tryon): Requires lenders to forward certain notices concerning tax sales to each borrower. Requires lenders to consult in person with each borrower before incurring costs to redeem the property. This bill passed the Consumer Protections Committee and will be considered by the full House. House Bill 5701: Click here for status (Hamos): In the current fiscal year, appropriates $6,000,000 in unobligated fund balances to the Rental Housing Support Program Fund from the Department of Revenue for long-term operating support. This bill passed the Appropriations-General Services Committee and will be considered by the full House. House Bill 5788: Click here for status House Bill 5790: Click here for status Senate Bill 1979: Click here for status Senate Bill 2434: Click here for status (Koehler): Requires an agreement between mobile home park owners and fire departments regarding how the mobile home park provides an adequate and reliable water supply for fire mitigation needs. This bill passed the Senate Housing and Community Affairs Committee and will be considered by the full Senate. Senate Bill 2566: Click here for status (Collins): Creates the Foreclosure Prevention Counseling Fund through a surcharge for all licensees under the Residential Mortgage Licensing Act to make grants to HUD-certified counseling agencies for home-ownership education and foreclosure prevention counseling. This bill passed the Housing and Community Affairs Committee and will be considered by the full Senate. FROM POVERTY TO OPPORTUNITY CAMPAIGN House Bill 4369 and Senate Bill 2074, both creating a Commission on Poverty Elimination, were each approved in committee unanimously The From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign is also working to make sure there is money in the state’s budget to fund the commission’s work. They are pushing for $450,000 to be added to the budget to cover both the administrative costs and the cost for creating the specific, measurable poverty elimination strategy that will cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. Contact Doug Schenkelberg at the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, 773-336-6084. NEXT ROUNDTABLE MEETINGThe next Illinois Housing Roundtable meeting will be on Wednesday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m. at BPI (25 E. Washington, Suite 1515, Chicago). The meeting will include a presentation on the work of the Preservation Compact, an initiative to preserve rental housing in Cook County. More information is available at http://chicago.uli.org/. For those who need to participate by phone, call 1-913-227-1219 and enter the guest code 179061#. HOUSING ROUNDTABLE CONTACTSAdam Gross and Susannah Levine, Business and Profession People for the Public Interest, 312-641-5570. Bob Palmer and Mimi Chedid, Housing Action Illinois, 312-939-6074. Briefing Book Calls for Affordable Housing in Capital Budget February 27, 2008 Governor Blagojevich’s $25 billion capital budget proposal, released on February 20, includes a $300 million "Illinois Community Assets Fund" for economic development activities, affordable housing and health care development for the life of the capital budget, generally three to five years. “That is a big step in the right direction, but with so many families, communities and businesses suffering because of the lack of affordable housing, Illinois should be investing at least an additional $100 million a year just for housing,” said Adam Gross, Director of the Regional Housing Initiative for Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, one of the book’s authors. “But we’re encouraged that for the first time ever in Illinois affordable housing is in a proposed capital budget.” To support the need for including affordable housing in the capital budget, the briefing book notes that federal guidelines say that no one should spend more than 30% of their income on housing, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1.5 million households in Illinois—roughly one in three—pay more than 30% of their income for housing and 722,000 households in Illinois—roughly one in six—pay more than 50% of their income for housing. The briefing book also points out that the housing industry serves as a critical economic engine locally, statewide, and nationally. The authors cited data showing that each dollar spent on residential construction generates an additional $1.27 in additional economic activity through the purchase of construction materials and other means. And new funding for housing construction and rehabilitation would bring back jobs in a sector that has been hard hit by the foreclosure crisis and the economic downturn. “The foreclosure crisis has refocused attention on the importance of affordable housing in people’s lives and to overall economic health,” said Bob Palmer, Policy Director for Housing Action Illinois, another of the book’s authors. “The briefing book makes the case that if there had been a larger supply of affordable homes, people would not have needed the risky mortgages that they now struggle to repay.” The book’s authors are encouraging Governor Blagojevich and members of the General Assembly to negotiate a capital budget in a good faith, including identifying a revenue source that does not further harm the state’s long-term fiscal situation and does not unduly burden low-income households. The briefing book also includes a summary of proposed and recently enacted affordable housing legislation. The full copy of the briefing book is available here. February 26, 2008 On February 20, Governor Blagojevich released his fiscal year 2009 operating budget proposal. The fate of the proposals is unclear, as it relies on revenue generating methods—such as a 3% payroll tax, closing corporate tax loopholes, and fund sweeps—that have not gained the support the General Assembly in the past. The scheduled deadline for the General Assembly to pass a fiscal year 2009 operating budget is May 31. With that background, here’s how housing faired in the budget proposal: New Supportive Housing Services Funding: The budget included the $4 million in new funding, sufficient to cover services in new supportive housing units scheduled to open in 2009. Homeless Service Providers Funding: The Emergency Food and Shelter Program was flat-funded at $9.4 million. Providers will continue to seek a $2.4 million increase for the program from the General Assembly. Predatory Lending Database Program Funding: The budget included $3 million in funding to implement the Predatory Lending Database Program, which requires mandatory file review by HUD certified-housing counselor for loans with certain characteristics common to predatory products. The program targets people buying a first home, or refinancing a home, in Cook County. Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund Appropriations: The Trust Fund was appropriated $55.3 million for fiscal year 2009, a slight increase from the current year. Additional appropriations from Trust Fund revenue include $14.3 million to the Department of Human Services for homeless prevention and other programs, $223,000 for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, $2.5 million for the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s administrative costs and a $3.8 million administrative charge. Rental Housing Support Program: The program was funded at $35 million for fiscal year 2009, a $4 million increase over the current year. CAPITAL BUDGET PROPOSAL The $25 billion capital budget proposal includes a $300 million "Illinois Community Assets Fund" for economic development activities, including affordable housing and health care development. That would be $300 million for the life of the capital program, which is typically more than three years, so the total amount is certainly less than the $100 million per year we've been advocating for. But, for the first time ever in Illinois, affordable housing is in a proposed capital budget. There is no requirement that the General Assembly pass a capital budget, although there is political pressure to so, perhaps especially because Illinois will lose $4.1 billion in federal funding for mass transportation infrastructure projects if $2.7 billion in matching funds are not provided by the state. The Governor has proposed a partial lease of the Illinois lottery to fund most of the capital budget. Funding a capital budget from an income tax increase has proposed by Senator James Meeks in Senate Bill 2288. STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE The following bills were developed by organizations that participate in the Illinois Housing Roundtable. House Bill 4730 (Soto-Ryg): To implement the Good Housing, Good Schools Act, passed in 2007, $3 million would be appropriated to the State Board of Education to reimburse school districts for additional expenses associated with the development of new affordable multi-family housing in certain high-income areas. HB 4730 passed the Housing and Urban Development Committee and will be considered by the full House. House Bill 5123 (Ryg): This shell bill will amend the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act to establish clear standards of review for the State Housing Appeals Board. This goal might be able to be accomplished through administrative rulemaking instead. House Bill 5170 (Osterman-Jakobsson): The Relocation Assistance Act would require landlords to provide relocation assistance to tenants forced from their homes when there is a court order to vacate a building due to dangerous and unhealthy conditions caused by the landlord. House Bill 5189 (Pihos-Graham): This bill would guarantee that owners of condominiums and town homes have the ability to rent their homes when they need or want to—just as other property owners do—to crease affordable rental housing or for other purposes. HB 5189 was assigned to the Judiciary I-Civil Law Committee. Senate Bill 2007 (Silverstein-Clayborne-Collins): This bill would create additional notice requirements and remedies for homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, who lose their home to tax purchasers and tax scavengers. Senate Bill 2287 (Raoul): This bill would amend the Safe Homes Act by restricting landlords from disclosing the identities of tenants who make use of the Act to protect themselves from domestic violence or sexual assault. Senate Resolution 0310 (Martinez-Jacobs-Harmon): The resolution affirms the importance of promoting integration and fair housing in Illinois government programs. SR 0310 was assigned to the State Government and Veterans’ Affairs Committee. These selected additional positive affordable housing bills have also been recently introduced: House Bill 4352 (Jakobsson-Ford): This bill, which has recently been amended, provides that before entering leased premises without the tenant's permission, a landlord shall provide the tenant with at least 48 hours notice, except that the landlord or their representative may enter without notice in an emergency. HB 4352 has been assigned to the Housing and Urban Development Committee. House Bill 4769 (Tryon): Requires lenders to forward certain notices concerning tax sales to each borrower. Requires lenders to consult in person with each borrower before incurring costs to redeem the property. House Bill 5701 (Hamos): In the current fiscal year, appropriates $6,000,000 in unobligated fund balances to the Rental Housing Support Program Fund from the Department of Revenue for long-term operating support. HB 5701 was assigned to then Appropriations-General Services Committee. House Bill 5788 (Golar): Creates the Foreclosure Prevention Counseling Fund through a surcharge of $1,000 for all licensees under the Residential Mortgage Licensing Act to make grants to HUD-certified counseling agencies for home-ownership education and foreclosure prevention counseling. HB 5788 was assigned to Housing and Urban Development Committee. Senate Bill 526 (Cullerton-Noland-Althoff-Frerichs-Sandoval): Creates the Energy Efficient Building Act, which would mandate updated residential building efficiency codes while allowing many municipalities to keep existing codes in place. Senate Bill 2146 (Halvorson): Provides that no mobile home park owner shall accept any offer for the sale, lease, or transfer of a mobile home park without first giving 60 days notice to each tenant and to the Illinois Housing Development Authority. Provides that during the notice period the park owner shall consider any offer received from the tenants or a tenants' association and negotiate in good faith with the tenants concerning a potential purchase or lease. SB 2146 was assigned to the Housing and Community Affairs Committee. Senate Bill 2376 (Crotty): Provides that in a mortgage foreclosure proceeding, where a timely written notice concerning rent payment was not given to the tenant or where the tenant makes a good-faith effort to keep current in the rent, an order of possession must allow the tenant to retain possession under the lease. FORECLOSURE INITIATIVE In Illinois, it is possible that up to 70,000 homeowners will face foreclosure this year in the face of the nation’s subprime mortgage crisis. On February 14, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced the Homeowner’s Assistance Initiative to provide immediate assistance to Illinois homebuyers at risk of losing their homes. The package helps Illinois homeowners in several ways:
A recent study by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office and an 11-state foreclosure prevention working group found that 70 percent of those in danger of losing their homes were not in discussions with their mortgage companies. The study underscored the importance of keeping the lines of communication open. Of the homeowners who have contacted their mortgage companies, the study found that almost half are working toward modifying their mortgage loans and, as a result, staying in their homes. Homeowners can call Attorney General Madigan’s new Homeowners’ Referral Helpline at 1-866-544-7151 for guidance on avoiding mortgage foreclosure. PRESIDENT BUSH’S FISCAL YEAR 2009 BUDGET PROPOSAL Thanks to the National Low Income Housing Coalition for this report. President Bush sent his fiscal year 2009 appropriations requests to Congress on February 4; as in previous years, the Administration’s proposed budget represents significant cuts to low-income housing programs. The President cites “turbulence” in the U.S. housing market as a core issue to be addressed in the fiscal year 2009 federal budget; nonetheless, he weakens programs that assist the lowest income people find and keep affordable housing. The Tenant Based Rental Assistance account is funded at $16 billion. Contract renewals for Section 8 vouchers are funded at approximately $14 billion, compared to the $15.5 billion needed to fund all authorized vouchers. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, this will mean a loss of 100,000 vouchers currently in use nationwide. The President’s budget proposes $7.16 billion to for the section 8 project-based account, and an additional $400 million “advance appropriation” to be available on October 1, 2009 for fiscal year 2010. While this is a significant increase over fiscal year 2008, it continues to be less than what is needed for HUD to renew all contracts in fiscal year 2009 with a full 12 months of funding. The remaining shortfall is approximately $1.9 billion for fiscal year 2009. Despite a multi-billion dollar backlog in needed capital repairs to public housing units, the President’s budget proposes to cut the Public Housing Capital Fund by $400 million, or 17%, requesting only $2 billion for the account. The Public Housing Operating Fund would receive a $100 million increase, to $4.3 billion, to reflect higher costs for day-to-day expenses. Despite the increase, the resulting $4.3 billion proposed appropriation would fund only 83% of what is actually needed to operate public housing. As he has for the past several years, President Bush again proposes to eliminate the HOPE VI program. And, the request seeks authorization for HUD to increase the number of Moving to Work public housing agencies. Homeless Assistance Grants receive a $50 million increase, earmarked for the Samaritan Housing Initiative to address supportive housing needs of chronically homeless individuals. The President again requests a 27%, or $195 million, cut to Section 202 housing for the elderly, and a 32%, or $77 million cut, to Section 811 housing for people with disabilities. The request level funds the fair housing assistance program but only provide $26 million for the fair housing initiatives program. This is actually a significant cut from fiscal year 2008 funding levels since the $26 million request includes $6 million for a separate HUD study. FHIP funds go to local fair housing organizations for fair housing education and testing. The fiscal year 2009 Budget Chart for Selected Programs can be found at www.nlihc.org . NEXT ROUNDTABLE MEETINGThe next Illinois Housing Roundtable meeting will be on Thursday, February 28 at 3:30 p.m. at BPI (25 E. Washington, Suite 1515, Chicago). For those who need to participate by phone, call 1-913-227-1219 and enter the guest code 179061#. HOUSING ROUNDTABLE CONTACTSAdam Gross and Susannah Levine, Business and Profession People for the Public Interest, 312-641-5570. Bob Palmer and Mimi Chedid, Housing Action Illinois, 312-939-6074. Homeless Shelters Appeal To Governor for Funding Increase January 18, 2008 Agencies that operate overnight shelters and transitional
housing programs around the state are making a last push to get
Governor Blagojevich to include a $2.4 million budget increase
in his fiscal year 2009 budget proposal to be released in mid-February. In Know County, Carver Community Action receives Emergency Food and Shelter Program funding Data obtained from the Illinois Department of Human Services show a 19% increase in the number of people served between fiscal years 2004, when 39,939 people received shelter, and 2007, when 47,697 people received shelter. During the same period, the annual number of shelter refusals, most often due to a lack of space, increased by 80%, from 17,642 refusals in fiscal year 2004 to 31,676 refusals in fiscal year 2007. (The number of shelter refusals does not include the City of Chicago, which does not keep track of the number of people turned away.) |
Housing Roundtable Update: March 19 Briefing Book Calls for Affordable Housing in the Capital Budget: February 27 Housing Roundatble Update: February 26 Homeless Shelters Appeal to Governor for Funding Increase: January 18
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