Public Act 102-0270
 
HB0648 EnrolledLRB102 10407 KTG 15734 b

    AN ACT concerning housing.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Rental Housing Support Program Act is
amended by changing Section 25 as follows:
 
    (310 ILCS 105/25)
    Sec. 25. Criteria for awarding grants. The Authority
shall adopt rules to govern the awarding of grants and the
continuing eligibility for grants under Sections 15 and 20.
Requests for proposals under Section 20 must specify that
proposals must satisfy these rules. The rules must contain and
be consistent with, but need not be limited to, the following
criteria:
        (1) Eligibility for tenancy in the units supported by
    grants to local administering agencies must be limited to
    households with gross income at or below 30% of the median
    family income for the area in which the grant will be made.
    Fifty percent of the units that are supported by any grant
    must be set aside for households whose income is at or
    below 15% of the area median family income for the area in
    which the grant will be made, provided that local
    administering agencies may negotiate flexibility in this
    set-aside with the Authority if they demonstrate that they
    have been unable to locate sufficient tenants in this
    lower income range. Income eligibility for units supported
    by grants to local administering agencies must be verified
    annually by landlords and submitted to local administering
    agencies. Tenants must have sufficient income to be able
    to afford the tenant's share of the rent. For grants
    awarded under Section 20, eligibility for tenancy in units
    supported by grants must be limited to households with a
    gross income at or below 30% of area median family income
    for the area in which the grant will be made. Fifty percent
    of the units that are supported by any grant must be set
    aside for households whose income is at or below 15% of the
    median family income for the area in which the grant will
    be made, provided that developers may negotiate
    flexibility in this set-aside with the Authority or
    municipality as defined in subsection (b) of Section 10 if
    it demonstrates that it has been unable to locate
    sufficient tenants in this lower income range. The
    Authority shall determine what sources qualify as a
    tenant's income. Once a tenant has received assistance
    under the Program, the tenant shall remain eligible for
    assistance under the Program until the tenant reaches an
    income level of 35% of area median family income and will
    then begin the transition out of the Program, as described
    in the rules governing the Program.
        (2) Local administering agencies should must include
    2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, and 4-bedroom units among those
    intended to be supported by grants under the Program. In
    grants under Section 15, the precise number of these units
    among all the units intended to be supported by a grant
    must be based on need in the community for larger units and
    other factors that the Authority specifies in rules. The
    local administering agency must specify the basis for the
    numbers of these units that are proposed for support under
    a grant. Local administering agencies must make a good
    faith effort to comply with this allocation of unit sizes.
    In grants awarded under Section 20, developers and the
    Authority or municipality, as defined in subsection (b) of
    Section 10, shall negotiate the numbers and sizes of units
    to be built in a project and supported by the grant.
        (3) Under grants awarded under Section 15, local
    administering agencies must enter into a payment contract
    with the landlord that defines the method of payment and
    must pay subsidies to landlords on a quarterly basis and
    in advance of the quarter paid for.
        (4) Local administering agencies and developers must
    specify how vacancies in units supported by a grant must
    be advertised and they must include provisions for
    outreach to local homeless shelters, organizations that
    work with people with disabilities, and others interested
    in affordable housing.
        (5) The local administering agency or developer must
    establish a schedule for the tenant's rental obligation
    for units supported by a grant. The tenant's share of the
    rent must be a flat amount, calculated annually, based on
    the size of the unit and the household's income category.
    In establishing the schedule for the tenant's rental
    obligation, the local administering agency or developer
    must use 30% of gross income within an income range as a
    guide, and it may charge an additional or lesser amount.
        (6) The amount of the subsidy provided under a grant
    for a unit must be the difference between the amount of the
    tenant's obligation and the total amount of rent for the
    unit. The total amount of rent for the unit must be
    negotiated between the local administering authority and
    the landlord under Section 15, or between the Authority or
    municipality, as defined in subsection (b) of Section 10,
    and the developer under Section 20, using comparable rents
    for units of comparable size and condition in the
    surrounding community as a guideline.
        (7) Local administering agencies and developers,
    pursuant to criteria the Authority develops in rules, must
    ensure that there are procedures in place to maintain the
    safety and habitability of units supported under grants.
    Local administering agencies must inspect units before
    supporting them under a grant awarded under Section 15.
        (8) Local administering agencies must provide or
    ensure that tenants are provided with a "bill of rights"
    with their lease setting forth local landlord-tenant laws
    and procedures and contact information for the local
    administering agency.
        (9) A local administering agency must create a plan
    detailing a process for helping to provide information,
    when necessary, on how to access education, training, and
    other supportive services to tenants living in units
    supported under the grant. The plan must be submitted as a
    part of the administering agency's proposal to the
    Authority required under Section 15.
        (10) Local administering agencies and developers may
    not use funding under the grant to develop or support
    housing that requires that a tenant has a particular
    diagnosis or type of disability as a condition of
    eligibility for occupancy unless the requirement is
    mandated by another funding source for the housing. Local
    administering agencies and developers may use grant
    funding to develop integrated housing opportunities for
    persons with disabilities, but not housing restricted to a
    specific disability type.
        (11) In order to plan for periodic fluctuations in
    annual receipts on deposit appropriated to the Fund each
    year, the Authority shall establish by rule a mechanism
    for establishing a reserve fund and the level of funding
    that shall be held in reserve either by the Authority or by
    local administering agencies.
        (12) The Authority shall perform annual
    reconciliations of all distributions made in connection
    with the Program and may offset future distributions to
    balance geographic distribution requirements of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 99-97, eff. 7-22-15.)