(20 ILCS 605/605-1035)

Sec. 605-1035. Training in the Building Trades Program.

(a) Subject to appropriation, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may establish a Training in the Building Trades Program to award grants to community-based organizations for the purpose of establishing training programs for persons who are 18 through 35 years of age and have an interest in the building trades. Persons eligible to participate in the Program shall include youth who have aged out of foster care and have an interest in the building trades. The Department of Children and Family Services, in consultation with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, shall identify and refer eligible youth to those community-based organizations that receive grants under this Section. Under the training programs, each participating person shall receive the following:

(1) Formal training and education in the fundamentals and core competencies in the person's chosen trade. Such training and education shall be provided by a trained and skilled tradesman or journeyman who is a member of a trade union and who is paid the general prevailing rate of hourly wages in the locality in which the work is to be performed.

(2) Hands-on experience to further develop the person's building trade skills by participating in community improvement projects involving the rehabilitation of vacant and abandoned residential property in economically depressed areas of the State.

Selected organizations shall also use the grant money to establish an entrepreneurship program to provide eligible persons with the capital and business management skills necessary to successfully launch their own businesses as contractors, subcontractors, real estate agents, or property managers or as any other entrepreneurs in the building trades. Eligibility under the entrepreneurship program shall be restricted to persons who reside in one of the economically depressed areas selected to receive community improvement projects in accordance with this subsection and who have obtained the requisite skill set for a particular building trade after successfully completing a training program established in accordance with this subsection. Grants provided under this Section may also be used to purchase the equipment and materials needed to rehabilitate any vacant and abandoned residential property that is eligible for acquisition as described in subsection (b).

(b) Property eligible for acquisition and rehabilitation under the Training in the Building Trades Program.

(1) A community-based organization that is selected to participate in the Training in the Building Trades Program may enter into an agreement with a financial institution to rehabilitate abandoned residential property in foreclosure with the express condition that, after the rehabilitation project is complete, the financial institution shall:

(A) sell the residential property for no less than its fair market value; and

(B) use any proceeds from the sale to (i) reimburse the community-based organization for all costs associated with rehabilitating the property and (ii) make satisfactory payment for any other claims against the property. Any remaining sale proceeds of the residential property shall be retained by the financial institution.

(2)(A) A unit of local government may enact an ordinance that permits the acquisition and rehabilitation of abandoned residential property under the Training in the Building Trades Program. Under the ordinance, any owner of residential property that has been abandoned for at least 3 years shall be notified that the abandoned property is subject to acquisition and rehabilitation under the Program and that if the owner does not respond to the notice within the time period prescribed by the unit of local government, the owner shall lose all right, title, and interest in the property. Such notice shall be given as follows:

(i) by mailing a copy of the notice by certified mail to the owner's last known mailing address;

(ii) by publication in a newspaper published in the municipality or county where the property is located; and

(iii) by recording the notice with the office of the recorder of the county in which the property is located.

(B) If the owner responds to the notice within the time period prescribed by the unit of local government, the owner shall be given the option to either bring the property into compliance with all applicable fire, housing, and building codes within 6 months or enter into an agreement with a community-based organization under the Program to rehabilitate the residential property. If the owner chooses to enter into an agreement with a community-based organization to rehabilitate the residential property, such agreement shall be made with the express condition that, after the rehabilitation project is complete, the owner shall:

(i) sell the residential property for no less than its fair market value; and

(ii) use any proceeds from the sale to (a) reimburse the community-based organization for all costs associated with rehabilitating the property and (b) make satisfactory payment for any other claims against the property. Any remaining sale proceeds of the residential property shall be distributed as follows:

(I) 20% shall be distributed to the owner.

(II) 80% shall be deposited into the Training in the Building Trades Fund created under subsection (e).

(c) The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall select from each of the following geographical regions of the State a community-based organization with experience working with the building trades:

(1) Central Illinois.

(2) Northeastern Illinois.

(3) Southern (Metro-East) Illinois.

(4) Southern Illinois.

(5) Western Illinois.

(d) Grants awarded under this Section shall be funded through appropriations from the Training in the Building Trades Fund created under subsection (e). The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may adopt any rules necessary to implement the provisions of this Section.

(e) The Training in the Building Trades Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. The Fund shall consist of any moneys deposited into the Fund as provided in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subsection (b) and any moneys appropriated to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for the Training in the Building Trades Program. Moneys in the Fund shall be expended for the Training in the Building Trades Program under subsection (a) and for no other purpose. All interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall be deposited into the Fund.

(Source: P.A. 101-469, eff. 1-1-20; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21.)