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Rental Housing Support Program to Become Law! Homelessness Prevention Funding Increased!
On June 1st, the office of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich informed us that he will sign Senate Bill 75, creating the Rental Housing Support Program, into law.
After three years of hard work, this is an amazing victory for extremely low-income households throughout the state. The bill will generate an estimated $30 million to provide rental subsidies to at least 5,500 families and individuals statewide.
We are now hoping to work with the Governor's staff to put together a bill signing ceremony. Sponsors for the legislation included Representatives Julie Hamos and Terry Parke in the Illinois House and and Senators Iris Martinez and Christine Radogno in the Senate.
After the bill is signed, we will begin to work on implementation of the legislation.
The program will provide subsidies directly to landlords, who in turn will charge affordable rents to extremely low-income tenants. The program will be funded by a new $10 fee on the recordation of real estate documents.
In another victory, the fiscal year 2006 state budget includes a total of $5.1 million for the Homelessness Prevention Fund. $3.1 million will come from state general revenue funds and $2 million dollars from federal TANF funds. This represents a $200,000 increase over last year's allocation of $4.9 million. This is another great victory in a tight budget year.
We will continue the effort to double prevention funding for next fiscal year.
The Homeless Prevention Program provides emergency grants, averaging less than $500, to families and individuals facing a temporary crisis, such as loss of a job or a spike in health care expenses. Grants are most often used to allow recipients to get current with rent and utility payments that prevent loss of their home. Since 1999, more than 35,000 households across the state have been assisted by the program.
Both programs are initiatives of the It Takes a Home to Raise a Child Campaign, a collaboration between the Statewide Housing Action Coalition and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. More than 120 organizations around the state have endorsed the campaign.
Forwarded from the Statewide Housing Action Coalition
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