Public Act 93-0316
HB2246 Enrolled LRB093 08168 RCE 08374 b
AN ACT concerning taxes.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by adding
Section 18-173 as follows:
(35 ILCS 200/18-173 new)
Sec. 18-173. Housing opportunity area abatement program.
(a) For the purpose of promoting access to housing near
work and in order to promote economic diversity throughout
Illinois and to alleviate the concentration of low-income
households in areas of high poverty, a housing opportunity
area tax abatement program is created.
(b) As used in this Section:
"Housing authority" means either a housing authority
created under the Housing Authorities Act or other government
agency that is authorized by the United States government
under the United States Housing Act of 1937 to administer a
housing choice voucher program, or the authorized agent of
such a housing authority that is authorized to act upon that
authority's behalf.
"Housing choice voucher" means a tenant voucher issued by
a housing authority under Section 8 of the United States
Housing Act of 1937.
"Housing opportunity area" means a census tract where
less than 10% of the residents live below the poverty level,
as defined by the United States government and determined by
the most recent United States census, that is located within
a qualified township.
"Housing opportunity unit" means a dwelling unit located
in residential property that is located in a housing
opportunity area, that is owned by the applicant, and that is
rented to and occupied by a tenant who is participating in a
housing choice voucher program administered by a housing
authority as of January 1st of the tax year for which the
application is made.
"Qualified units" means the number of housing opportunity
units located in the property with the limitation that no
more than 2 units or 20% of the total units contained within
the property, whichever is greater, may be considered
qualified units. Further, no unit may be considered qualified
unless the property in which it is contained is in
substantial compliance with local building codes, and,
moreover, no unit may be considered qualified unless it meets
the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development's housing quality standards as of the most recent
housing authority inspection.
"Qualified township" means a township located within a
county with 200,000 or more inhabitants whose tax capacity
exceeds 100% of the average tax capacity of the county in
which it is located, except for townships located within a
county with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, where a qualified
township means a township whose tax capacity exceeds 115% of
the average tax capacity of the county except for townships
located wholly within a municipality with 1,000,000 or more
inhabitants. All townships located wholly within a
municipality with 1,000,000 or more inhabitants are
considered qualified townships.
"Tax capacity" means the equalized assessed value of all
taxable real estate located within a township or county
divided by the total population of that township or county.
(c) The owner of property located within a housing
opportunity area who has a housing choice voucher contract
with a housing authority may apply for a housing opportunity
area tax abatement by annually submitting an application to
the housing authority that administers the housing choice
voucher contract. The application must include the number of
housing opportunity units as well as the total number of
dwelling units contained within the property. The owner
must, under oath, self-certify as to the total number of
dwelling units in the property and must self-certify that the
property is in substantial compliance with local building
codes. The housing authority shall annually determine the
number of qualified units located within each property for
which an application is made.
The housing authority shall establish rules and
procedures governing the application processes and may charge
an application fee. The county clerk may audit the
applications to determine that the properties subject to the
tax abatement meet the requirements of this Section. The
determination of eligibility of a property for the housing
opportunity area abatement shall be made annually; however,
no property may receive an abatement for more than 10 tax
years.
(d) The housing authority shall determine housing
opportunity areas within its service area and annually
deliver to the county clerk, in a manner determined by the
county clerk, a list of all properties containing qualified
units within that service area by December 31st of the tax
year for which the property is eligible for abatement; the
list shall include the number of qualified units and the
total number of dwelling units for each property.
The county clerk shall deliver annually to a housing
authority, upon that housing authority's request, the most
recent available equalized assessed value for the county as a
whole and for those taxing districts and townships so
specified by the requesting housing authority.
(e) The county clerk shall abate the tax attributed to a
portion of the property determined to be eligible for a
housing opportunity area abatement. The portion eligible for
abatement shall be determined by reducing the equalized
assessment value by a percentage calculated using the
following formula: 19% of the equalized assessed value of the
property multiplied by a fraction where the numerator is the
number of qualified units and denominator is the total number
of dwelling units located within the property.
(f) Any municipality, except for municipalities with
1,000,000 or more inhabitants, may annually petition the
county clerk to be excluded from a housing opportunity area
if it is able to demonstrate that more than 2.5% of the total
residential units located within that municipality are
occupied by tenants under the housing choice voucher program.
Properties located within an excluded municipality shall not
be eligible for the housing opportunity area abatement for
the tax year in which the petition is made.
(g) Applicability. This Section applies to tax years
2004 through 2014, unless extended by law.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.