State makes up to $25,000 available to cover missed rent
Hyde Park Herald
Posted May 18, 2021
The state has made up to $25,000 available to renters who have fallen behind on their rent in one lump sum by expanding the Illinois Rental Payment Program to a total of $1.5 billion.
Eviction records filed due to financial hardship will also be sealed through August 2022.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 2877 on May 17, also announcing that the state will plan to "phase out" its moratorium on pandemic-related evictions by August.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-4th) was the bill's chief sponsor; Sen. Robert Peters (D-13th) and Reps. Curtis J. Tarver II (D-25th) and Kam Buckner (D-26th) co-sponsored it.
Funding for the program, which has been made available by the federal government, will be administered through the Illinois Housing Development Authority.
In a Herald interview, Peters praised Ramirez and several advocacy organizations for helping pass the bill. "It was on the idea that, during a pandemic, housing is a health care and human rights issue," he said.
"Specifically, if we were going to ask people to stay home, we needed to provide them with the rental relief and rental security that they need, as well as small landlords who are going to struggle to keep things going as we have stay-at-home orders."
The assistance is nearly four times the amount offered under the previous assistance program, which distributed more than $280 million to more than 260,000 households across the state that were financially impacted by COVID-19, officials said.
Through the bill’s signing, eligible tenants and landlords can apply to receive a one-time grant totaling up to $25,000 to cover a maximum of 15 months of missed rent from June 2020 through August 2021, or until funds are exhausted. Funds will be distributed directly to housing providers and landlords.
Speaking Monday on the Northwest Side, Pritzker called the launch of the new support program and bill signing “momentous,” as officials aim to provide additional assistance to over 120,000 households statewide.
"The Illinois Rental Assistance Program is a testament to how good government can make a life-changing difference for people when our dollars follow our values," Pritzker said. "This program expansion will allow us to take that impact to new heights for tens of thousands of Illinoisians."
In order to receive assistance through the Illinois Rental Payment Program, tenants must be able to prove financial difficulty as a result of COVID-19, provide proof of housing instability due to missed rent, and have a household income below 80 percent of their area median income. Eligible tenants and landlords can apply to receive assistance at illinoishousinghelp.org.
"We wanted to make the form and the process easier because it was a bit more complicated," Peters said. "It was everybody's first time ever dealing with a pandemic, and I think that the governor's office did a good job dealing with the legislature to make this process easier.