CHA Voucher Holders Continue to Be Concentrated in Segregated, Poor Chicago Communities
February 8, 2010

A report issued today, "Are We Home Yet? Creating Real Choice for Housing Choice Voucher Families in Chicago" finds that the majority of the Chicago Housing Authority's 35,000 Housing Choice Voucher households reside in predominately African-American, high poverty neighborhoods within the City of Chicago, and that more voucher families are now concentrated in these types of communities than ten years ago. 

Because these communities continue to struggle with high rates of unemployment, foreclosures, and above average rates of crime and poor health, voucher families do not currently have a real opportunity to live in healthy communities. 

The report recommends that there must be a comprehensive effort by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), the City of Chicago, housing advocates, and public officials to advance housing mobility and opportunities for voucher families, as well as to strategically invest in the communities where voucher families currently live. 

Specific recommendations include:

• The CHA should partner with an established housing mobility counseling program to provide education and services to all voucher families, not just residents relocating from public housing;
• The federal government should establish more community specific Fair Market Rents for the Chicago region, so that the CHA and voucher holders can access quality housing in low-poverty communities of opportunity, currently out of reach due to high rents;
• The CHA and area public housing authorities should conduct an information campaign to dispel myths about the voucher program and educate landlords on how it actually works.  At the same time, these housing authorities must streamline their voucher programs to encourage landlord participation and seek out opportunities to incentivize landlords with properties in low-poverty opportunity communities to participate;
• The CHA should project-base vouchers in areas of opportunity, so as to create a permanent source of affordable housing in healthy communities; and
• The City of Chicago and the CHA should invest in all communities where voucher holders currently live and work to make these communities healthy.

Click here to download a PDF version of the complete report.

"Are We Home Yet?" is a project of the Illinois Assisted Housing Action Research Project (IHARP), in collaboration with Housing Action Illinois, the Latino Policy Forum, the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement, and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.  The report is made possible by generous support of the Field Foundation of Illinois.

Housing Roundtable Update
January 11, 2010

State Budget Update: Call in Day on Wednesday, January 13

This week our legislators return to the State Capitol to open a new legislative session. It's critical that we remind members of the House of Representatives that the painful fallout of the collapsing state budget can't be overlooked any longer. That's why Wednesday, January 13 the Responsible Budget Coalition is organizing a call-in day to members of the House.

Please make calls to your state representative--and do everything you can to generate as many calls as possible from others Call your state representative directly at their Springfield office, or using the capitol switchboard at 217-782-2000.

The message is short and simple: "Stop devastating cuts to schools, hospitals, human services and state and local governments! Support House Bill 174!"

HB 174 is comprehensive tax reform to raise new revenue that's desperately needed to close the state's huge budget shortfall AND make taxes fairer. The bill would raise the income tax by 2 pennies on the dollar, broaden the sales tax base, and expand tax credits for middle-class and low-income taxpayers, homeowners and seniors. It has been approved by the state Senate but must pass the House.

Currently, Illinois is delinquent in paying more than $5 billion it owes to private sector providers of human and health-care services and others. Without revenue increases, the state's revenue shortfall for the next fiscal year will likely be more than $13 billion; that would be a deficit in excess of half of the state's general fund spending on schools, health care, human services and public safety combined.

We urge all community-based organizations to join the Responsible Budget Coalition in their efforts to get Illinois out of our fiscal mess. More information is available at http://www.abetterillinois.com.

Round-Up of New State Housing Laws

Many new pro-affordable housing bills will be introduced during in the General Assembly during the remainder of January. Before turning our attention totally to the new year, however, here's a summary of positive bills that were passed into law during 2009 through the work of groups participating in the Housing Roundtable.

House Bill 2470: Amends the property tax code to expand the existing Housing Opportunity Tax Abatement Program to include tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers and tenant-based vouchers that have been converted to project-based vouchers. It also expands the number of geographic areas where landlords are eligible to participate in the program. Advocated for by Interfaith Open Communities.

House Bill 3863: Requires that after a foreclosure is complete, the new owner of a rental property must make a good faith effort to identify residents of the property and inform residents that the property has been the subject of foreclosure, and provide contact information for resident concerns and repair requests. The bill also provides a tenant a minimum of 30 days to move after the eviction hearing if the tenant is evicted under the procedure provided under the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law. Advocated for by the Sargent Shriver National Center for Poverty Law and Housing Action Illinois.

Senate Bill 1629: Amends the Energy Assistance Act to make landlords who participate in the Rental Housing Support Program or Housing Choice Voucher program to be eligible for energy utility assistance. Advocated for by the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund.

Senate Bill 1894: Require that mortgage servicers provide municipalities notice when foreclosure proceedings are initiated, authorize municipalities to create land banks, and allow municipalities to recoup the costs of vacant and abandoned property maintenance by giving municipal liens for such maintenance greater priority in mortgage foreclosure proceedings. Advocated for by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest.

Numerous other positive pieces of housing legislation also passed, including the following bills:

House Bill 688: Provides that a municipality may file a court petition to appoint a receiver to manage a "distressed condominium property"--defined as being a danger, blight, or nuisance to the surrounding community or to the general public--as well as take additional steps to ameliorate the situation.

House Bill 746: Creates a Rapid Reintegration Pilot Program for people with physical disabilities and/or mental illness who need a short-term placement of 6 months or less in a nursing facility so that they can successfully return to the community without experiencing unnecessary institutionalization.

House Bill 2005: Amends the process to challenge a foreclosure judicial sale by eliminating the requirement that owners of a home they live in secure by bond a bid equal to the successful bid at the prior sale.

House Bill 2653: Amends the Homelessness Prevention Act to allow payment of mortgage arrearages to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

House Bill 3987: Environment Illinois led the campaign to create a statewide energy-efficient building code for residential buildings.

House Bill 4011: Enables the State's participation in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.

The full text and for all these laws, and links to their corresponding Public Acts, can be found at http://www.ilga.gov.

Regarding the State of Illinois Capital Budget signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn last summer, unfortunately, a variety of factors have delayed the State from issuing the bonds to fund the capital budget. Hopefully, there will be progress on this issue by the spring.

The capital budget included $130 million for affordable housing, $30 million of which is set aside specifically for housing veterans and people with disabilities. This funding, the first ever for affordable housing in an Illinois capital budget, will go to the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA).

2010 Federal Budget Signed Into Law

On December 16, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3288, the FY 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) Appropriations Act.

The final T-HUD bill provides $46.1 billion for housing programs, an increase of $4.5 billion over FY 2909 funding. All programs received increased funding except the HOME program, which was level-funded. The final T-HUD bill provides $46.1 billion for housing programs, an increase of $4.5 billion over FY09 funding. All programs received increased funding except the HOME program, which was level-funded.

In addition to increases in program funding, HUD will launch a new comprehensive housing and neighborhood development program, the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, which will be funded within the HOPE VI program. The final FY10 T-HUD appropriation provides $65 million for a Choice Neighborhoods Initiative from within the $200 million for HOPE VI.

For more information, see the National Low Income Housing Coalition's FY10 Budget Chart for Selected HUD Programs at http://www.nlihc.org/doc/FY10-chart-1-5-10.pdf.

Federal Legislation: National Housing Trust Fund and Consumer Protection

On December 16, the House of Representatives passed The Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010 (H.R. 2847) by a vote of 217-212. The $75 billion bill that includes $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund and $65 million for project-based vouchers to be distributed along with NHTF dollars. The Jobs for Main Street Act would be paid for with unused TARP funds.The Senate should take up their version of a jobs bill in January.

It is estimated that $43 million of the NHTF funds will go to Illinois. More information is available at http://www.nlihc.org/doc/NHTF-State-Estimates.pdf.

The vote was mostly along party lines, with most Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. Illinois Representatives Melissa Bean, Bill Foster and Mike Quigley were among the 38 Democrats who voted against the bill.

On December 11, the House approved The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. Once again, the vote was mostly along party lines, with most Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. Illinois Representative Debbie Halvorson was among the 27 Democrats who voted against the bill.

The bill provides for more federal regulation of Wall Street, banks and other financial institutions, including creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers from abusive lending practices, set rules for the trading of some of the sophisticated financial instruments that fueled the crisis, and take steps to reduce the threat that the failure of one or two huge banks or investment firms could topple the entire economy.

The bill is lacking in several ways including-most importantly, by not placing the enforcement of a strengthened Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in the hands of the new agency. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and other consumer-oriented groups will advocate hat the Senate, which has yet to consider their version of such a plan, will be more supportive of a stricter measure. Also President Obama will have input into the final form of legislation as the House and Senate conference their two versions.

More information is available at http://www.ncrc.org/.

Other State Housing News

The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) has finalized the 2010 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. The QAP is available at http://www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=149.

IHDA has also finalized Reaching a Sustainable Future: Illinois' 2010 Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan. The plan is available at http://www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=308.

The state plan for implementing the Neighborhood Stabilization Program has been amended to make to IHDA the lead administrator for the program. Other program changes were made. More information is available http://www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=351.

Cook County Court-Based Foreclosure Mediation Program

On November 19th, 2009, the Cook County Board passed two budget amendments totaling $3.5 million to fund a new court-based mediation program for homeowners at-risk of foreclosure. The effort was led by Action Now, who has been fighting for a foreclosure mediation program in Cook County for over a year. An Advisory Committee representing local government, HUD-certified housing counseling agencies, legal service providers, lender representatives and others is currently working with the Cook County Court system to design the program. The program will be slowly rolled out over the next few months.

Shortage of Housing for Lowest Income Families Grew Significantly Between 2007 and 2008
November 30

National Low Income Housing Coalition calls on Congress, Administration to address shortage through National Housing Trust Fund

The shortage of housing that is affordable for the lowest income families grew significantly between 2007 and 2008, according to an analysis of 2008 American Community Survey data done by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). In 2007, the shortage of homes affordable for extremely low income renter households (those earning 30% or less of their area median income) was 2.7 million. The shortage grew to 3.1 million homes in 2008.

This longstanding deficit of rental homes that are affordable for the poorest households is getting worse because the number of extremely low income households is increasing, while the number of rental homes they can afford dwindles. U.S. census data show that the number of all renter households in the United States increased by 2.4% between 2007 and 2008, but the number of extremely low income renter households increased by 3.5%. During the same period, the supply of all rental homes increased by 2.2%, but the supply of rental homes affordable for extremely low income families decreased by 1.8%. Households with extremely low incomes continue to be the only income group facing an absolute shortage of affordable rental housing.

Looking at the number of rental homes that are both affordable and available to the lowest income households, the picture is even worse. (Many of the homes that extremely low income families could afford are occupied by higher income people.) For every 100 extremely low income renter households, there were 39 rental housing units affordable and available for them in 2007. By 2008, the number of affordable and available units had declined to 37. A scarcity of housing that the poorest families can afford is the principle cause of homelessness in the United States.

The shortage will likely be worse for 2009 and 2010. The increase in unemployment and resulting loss of household income that has occurred between 2008 and 2009 means even more households are competing for fewer homes renting at prices they can afford. This shortage will persist despite the excess supply in the overall housing market caused by the foreclosure crisis and the recession.

“In the array of subsidies and bailouts that Congress and the Administration have given out in an attempt to repair the economy in the last year, more than $1.1 trillion has gone to the housing sector through foreclosure mitigation programs, tax credits for homebuyers, and cash infusions to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not one dollar has been devoted just to addressing the shortage of rental housing for extremely low income families,” NLIHC President Sheila Crowley said. “This is unconscionable neglect. Congress cannot claim that we cannot afford to build more affordable rental housing, when they just this month put another $11.8 billion into subsidizing homebuyers with incomes of up to $250,000.”

Low income housing and homeless advocates are calling on Congress to put at least $1 billion in the National Housing Trust Fund before the end of the year. This will support the immediate construction of 10,000 rental homes, creating 15,100 new construction jobs and 3,800 new jobs in ongoing operations. Further, the new jobs bill that Congress is now developing should include another $15 billion for low income rental housing construction and rehabilitation through the National Housing Trust Fund in 2010. An additional $15 billion would create another 283,500 jobs.

The National Housing Trust Fund was established in 2008, but has yet to be funded. Three quarters of the homes produced with National Housing Trust Fund dollars must be affordable to extremely low income households.

The U.S. Census data came from the American Community Survey (ACS), an annual survey of approximately 3 million households that provides recent information on the characteristics of Americans and their housing. Data are published in the fall the year after they have been collected.

From the Front Lines of Foreclosure, Counseling Agencies Struggle to Meet Demand
July 7, 2009

Suburban homeowners less likely to receive foreclosure counseling

Click here to download the complete report as a PDF file.

Chicago—Housing counselors are struggling to keep up with strong demand for foreclosure prevention services, while some communities lack counseling resources all together, according to a new report by Housing Action Illinois, a counseling advocate, and Woodstock Institute.

The report, entitled On the Foreclosure Front Lines: Surveying the Capacity of HUD-Certified Housing Counseling Agencies in Illinois, found that much of South Suburban Cook County, McHenry County, and parts of Northwest Will County had startling gaps in counseling services. Even in areas where several agencies actively provide foreclosure prevention counseling, four out of every five new foreclosure cases in 2008 did not access counseling services.

As regional foreclosures increase, particularly in suburban communities, access to housing counseling resources is critical to keeping families in their homes. But the vast majority of agencies operating at full capacity and with limited geographic coverage, families that would otherwise be eligible for prevention services are often left to negotiate with the mortgage company alone––a situation that often yields poor results.

“Working with a nonprofit housing counseling agency is often the best bet for homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgages. But, as this report shows, there are many communities where there's no place for a distressed family to go," says Sharon Legenza, Executive Director of Housing Action Illinois.

The report also found that:

1. In the Chicago region as a whole, counseling agencies provided 7.3 foreclosure counseling sessions per 100 foreclosure filings. Large parts of south suburban Cook County and Lake County have less than seven foreclosure counseling sessions per 100 foreclosure filings, and high foreclosure parts of McHenry County and northwest Will County both have less than two counseling sessions per 100 foreclosure filings. In the City of Chicago, north and west suburban Cook County, and DuPage County counselors provided greater than 15 counseling sessions per 100 foreclosure filings.

2. Approximately 20 percent of the agencies surveyed reported that they currently have a waitlist for their foreclosure counseling services and are scheduling appointments weeks or months ahead.

3. Eighty-three percent of the agencies that responded are currently operating at full capacity, while the remaining 17 percent are operating at less than full capacity, largely due to an inability to fill open counselor positions.

Housing is Still “Out of Reach” in Illinois
The Housing Wage is $17.17 for Two-Bedroom Apartment

April 14, 2009—According to a report released today, the Housing Wage for the state of Illinois is $17.17 for a two-bedroom apartment, while the average wage a renter in Illinois earns is $15.33.

The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year—to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment renting for $893- the average rent in Illinois. The Housing Wage in Illinois has increased 32.5% since 2000.

The report, Out of Reach 2009, 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.

“The increase in the housing wage compared to a year ago suggests that the foreclosure crisis and the economic slowdown have actually driven up rental costs overall as competition for affordable rental units increases as fewer people are buying homes and people who lost their homes to foreclosure have reentered the rental market,” said Mimi Chedid, Policy Coordinator for Housing Action Illinois. The housing wage for Illinois in 2008 was $16.23.

In Illinois, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.75. In order to afford market-rate rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Illinois, a minimum wage earner must work 89 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or a household must have 2.2 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

In Illinois, among metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, the lowest Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $10.50 in the Bond County metropolitan area. The highest housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $19.31 in the Chicago metropolitan area.

An estimated 49% of renters in the Illinois area do not earn enough income to afford a two-bedroom unit at the Fair Market Rent.

Housing Action Illinois’ mission is to increase and preserve the supply of decent, affordable, and 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 http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2009.