Section 380.403  Application Requirements

Each Application to be an LAA shall include the information required by this Section and, in the case of the Authority, any additional information the Authority may require to promote efficient program administration and quality of performance, provided that those requirements are included in the Authority's RFP and are consistent with this Section.

a)         Unit Types:  Each Application shall include, but not be limited to, two, three, and four-bedroom Units among those Units proposed for Rental Assistance.  Each Applicant shall determine and document the need for and availability of two, three, and four-bedroom Units in its proposed Service Area.  The Authority may adjust the number of these larger Units if the information in the Application indicates a greater or lesser need for specific Unit types.  All LAAs must make a good faith effort to comply with the final determination of the number of two-, three-, and four-bedroom Units to receive Rental Assistance in the Service Area.

b)         Maximum Number of Units:   

1)         For buildings containing more than 10 Units, the number of Units proposed to receive Rental Assistance from the RHS Program shall not exceed 50% of the Units in the building.  For buildings containing 10 Units or fewer, there shall be no restriction on the number of Units proposed to receive Rental Assistance from the RHS Program.

2)         For buildings containing 20 or more Permanent Supportive Housing Units, the number of Units proposed to receive Rental Assistance for RHS shall be 100% of the Units in the building.

c)         Rents:  Each Application shall include a schedule of rents for the proposed Units, the proposed Tenant Contribution, and a fair market analysis.  To meet the requirements of the fair market analysis, LAAs shall include a sampling of rents at several properties throughout the service area.  Proposed schedules of rents should be comparable to rents provided in the fair market analysis.

d)         Required Outreach:  As provided in Section 380.302, each Applicant must demonstrate that it has made extensive efforts to establish working relationships with organizations serving populations in need of Rental Assistance, including, without limitation, local non-profit organizations and other entities serving the homeless, disabled, and senior citizens in the Service Area; public housing authorities with jurisdiction in the Service Area; and other organizations within the Service Area having experience in working with Extremely Low-Income Households and Severely Low-Income Households.

e)         Each Applicant must include in its Application a plan for selecting Landlords to participate in the RHS Program.

f)         Preference in Making Allocations:  Applications that pledge to make efforts to offer proposed Units to Special Needs Households, including persons now or imminently at risk of being required to live in institutional settings due to unavailability of suitable housing, shall receive the highest priority for an Allocation.  Applications seeking this preference shall include executed written agreements with special needs service providers to refer eligible Households and a pledge to create and maintain procedures for referring the Special Needs Households.  Applications shall not include a requirement that a Unit must be occupied by a Tenant having a diagnosis of a particular illness or the presence of a specific disability as a prerequisite for eligibility.

g)         Plan for Services:  Each applicant shall provide its Plan for Services, which shall include a plan for advertising and making available information about the RHS Program to Landlords in its Service Area, a plan for providing information to Tenants on how to gain access to education, training, and other supportive services, and procedures for advertising available Units, and for identifying and referring prospective Tenants to Landlords for those Units.

h)         Financial Procedures:  Each Application shall describe in detail the procedures for managing and disbursing the funds to be received through the requested Allocation and for making Reconciliations.

i)          Monitoring Landlords:  Each LAA shall describe in detail how it proposes to monitor the performance of Landlords, including, at a minimum, the LAA's procedures for conducting physical inspections of Units, how the LAA will monitor and assist with the Landlord's procedures for verifying the Annual Income of Tenants and the Landlord's adherence to its Tenant Selection Plan.

j)          Readiness to Proceed:  The Authority may give preference to Applicants who demonstrate a readiness to proceed, should they receive an Allocation.  Readiness to proceed may be shown by a list of Households that have been pre-qualified to be Tenants, letters of intent from Landlords who own rental Units, or other factors, provided that the other factors are listed in the RFP.  Letters of intent should include a certification from the Landlord that the Landlord is the owner of the rental Unit; the address of, the proposed rent for, and the number of bedrooms in, the Unit; a statement as to whether the Unit is accessible to disabled individuals or is adaptable so that it can be made accessible to disabled individuals; a statement that the Landlord will make the Unit available to eligible Households when funding is made available under the RHS Program; the signature of the owner; an executed acknowledgment by an authorized signatory of the Applicant; and other information as the Authority may require in the RFP.

(Source:  Amended at 46 Ill. Reg. 12608, effective July 7, 2022)