State launches pandemic help for renters
Aid for homeowners to follow; Pritzker, Castro push for additional federal relief
Backed by state Sen. Cristina Castro and Illinois Housing Development Authority Executive Director Kristin Faust, Gov. Pritzker announces the formal launch of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program Monday in Chicago. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
CHICAGO — Illinois formally launched the largest program in the nation Monday to provide housing stability in the midst of the pandemic.
Gov. Pritzker formally announced the Emergency Rental Assistance Program is accepting applications through the Illinois Housing Development Authority. It’s part of a $300 million initiative to stabilize housing and prevent evictions, split down the middle with a program of equal size for homeowners to launch in two weeks. The governor called it “the largest pandemic housing-stability program of any state in the nation.”
The program for renters offers $5,000 grants to anyone behind on rent who’s lost income to the COVID-19 pandemic, as long as previous household income before March 1 was at or below 80 percent of the area’s median income. It expects to fund 30,000 renters across the state with grants that do not have to be repaid.
“A safe and affordable place to live is what everybody should have,” Pritzker said. “Keeping people in their homes isn’t just a moral obligation, it’s an economic one.”
According to Pritzker, just 100 families losing their homes would have a total social cost of $800 million, “so we’re saving money in the end by offering this assistance.”
“We know from the previous housing crisis,” during the Great Recession, “that keeping people in their homes is essential for our economic recovery,” said Kristin Faust, executive director of the state housing authority.
“We know from the previous housing crisis that keeping people in their homes is essential for our economic recovery.”
Kristin Faust of the Illinois Housing Development Authority (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
Faust said that, with Illinois unemployment estimated at 15 percent, “many have fallen behind in their mortgages and their rent payments, and may not be able to catch up without this assistance.” She added that a third of the total $300 million was being set aside to target “communities especially hard hit by the pandemic” across the state.
Pritzker originally announced the relief programs for renters and homeowners in June, and touted them again last month while extending the statewide moratorium on evictions to Aug. 22.
State Sen. Cristina Castro of Elgin, one of the lead sponsors of the program in the General Assembly, said it would help people “breathe a little easier” in coping with the economic fallout from the pandemic and efforts to contain it.
But both Castro and Pritzker warned that, even at $300 million, it was insufficient to the state’s needs, capable of funding 30,000 renters and 10,000 homeowners statewide.
“At this time, Illinois just does not have the capacity to fill everyone’s needs,” Castro said. “We still need help from the federal government.”
Pritzker too pushed for “more federal assistance to keep people in their homes.” While the program is being funded through an earlier federal COVID-19 relief package, it’s Illinois that’s targeting housing, he said, attempting to fill the gap from “the housing support the federal government has thus far declined to provide.”
Talks on an additional COVID-19 relief package are at an impasse between U.S. House Democrats and Senate Republicans and the Trump administration, but the $3 trillion HEROES Act passed by the House in May allots $100 billion for renter assistance and another $75 billion for homeowners.
The state program allows back payments of rent or mortgage going back to March, and ahead to the end of the year, up to the total amount of the grant. The mortgage program also allows applicants with pre-pandemic household income of up to 120 percent of the area median income.
Renters can apply at the website era.ihda.org. They should also tell their landlords they’re applying, as landlords need to confirm the owed rent. The homeowner site is already up at ema.ilha.org, but it won’t formally accept applications until Aug. 24. According to Faust, community groups are helping those without internet access or a smartphone to enroll, and anyone interested in that service should call (888) 252-1119.
Pritzker, again, warned that demand for the grants will almost certainly exceed the funding, “so people should apply as early as possible.”
Pritzker made the announcement at the offices of Neighborhood Housing Services in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood. Donna Clarke, head of the organization, said, “COVID-19 has not only threatened individuals, but it has also weakened the immune system of our communities.”