January 2010 Housing Matters! Update
Monday, January 11, 2010

State Budget Update: Call in Day on Wednesday, January 13

This week our legislators return to the State Capitol to open a new legislative session. It's critical that we remind members of the House of Representatives that the painful fallout of the collapsing state budget can't be overlooked any longer. That's why Wednesday, January 13 the Responsible Budget Coalition is organizing a call-in day to members of the House.

Please make calls to your state representative--and do everything you can to generate as many calls as possible from others Call your state representative directly at their Springfield office, or using the capitol switchboard at 217-782-2000.

The message is short and simple: "Stop devastating cuts to schools, hospitals, human services and state and local governments! Support House Bill 174!"

HB 174 is comprehensive tax reform to raise new revenue that's desperately needed to close the state's huge budget shortfall AND make taxes fairer. The bill would raise the income tax by 2 pennies on the dollar, broaden the sales tax base, and expand tax credits for middle-class and low-income taxpayers, homeowners and seniors. It has been approved by the state Senate but must pass the House.

Currently, Illinois is delinquent in paying more than $5 billion it owes to private sector providers of human and health-care services and others. Without revenue increases, the state's revenue shortfall for the next fiscal year will likely be more than $13 billion; that would be a deficit in excess of half of the state's general fund spending on schools, health care, human services and public safety combined.

We urge all community-based organizations to join the Responsible Budget Coalition in their efforts to get Illinois out of our fiscal mess. More information is available at http://www.abetterillinois.com.

Round-Up of New State Housing Laws

Many new pro-affordable housing bills will be introduced during in the General Assembly during the remainder of January. Before turning our attention totally to the new year, however, here's a summary of positive bills that were passed into law during 2009 through the work of groups participating in the Housing Roundtable.

House Bill 2470: Amends the property tax code to expand the existing Housing Opportunity Tax Abatement Program to include tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers and tenant-based vouchers that have been converted to project-based vouchers. It also expands the number of geographic areas where landlords are eligible to participate in the program. Advocated for by Interfaith Open Communities.

House Bill 3863: Requires that after a foreclosure is complete, the new owner of a rental property must make a good faith effort to identify residents of the property and inform residents that the property has been the subject of foreclosure, and provide contact information for resident concerns and repair requests. The bill also provides a tenant a minimum of 30 days to move after the eviction hearing if the tenant is evicted under the procedure provided under the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law. Advocated for by the Sargent Shriver National Center for Poverty Law and Housing Action Illinois.

Senate Bill 1629: Amends the Energy Assistance Act to make landlords who participate in the Rental Housing Support Program or Housing Choice Voucher program to be eligible for energy utility assistance. Advocated for by the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund.

Senate Bill 1894: Require that mortgage servicers provide municipalities notice when foreclosure proceedings are initiated, authorize municipalities to create land banks, and allow municipalities to recoup the costs of vacant and abandoned property maintenance by giving municipal liens for such maintenance greater priority in mortgage foreclosure proceedings. Advocated for by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest.

Numerous other positive pieces of housing legislation also passed, including the following bills:

House Bill 688: Provides that a municipality may file a court petition to appoint a receiver to manage a "distressed condominium property"--defined as being a danger, blight, or nuisance to the surrounding community or to the general public--as well as take additional steps to ameliorate the situation.

House Bill 746: Creates a Rapid Reintegration Pilot Program for people with physical disabilities and/or mental illness who need a short-term placement of 6 months or less in a nursing facility so that they can successfully return to the community without experiencing unnecessary institutionalization.

House Bill 2005: Amends the process to challenge a foreclosure judicial sale by eliminating the requirement that owners of a home they live in secure by bond a bid equal to the successful bid at the prior sale.

House Bill 2653: Amends the Homelessness Prevention Act to allow payment of mortgage arrearages to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

House Bill 3987: Environment Illinois led the campaign to create a statewide energy-efficient building code for residential buildings.

House Bill 4011: Enables the State's participation in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry.

The full text and for all these laws, and links to their corresponding Public Acts, can be found at http://www.ilga.gov.

Regarding the State of Illinois Capital Budget signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn last summer, unfortunately, a variety of factors have delayed the State from issuing the bonds to fund the capital budget. Hopefully, there will be progress on this issue by the spring.

The capital budget included $130 million for affordable housing, $30 million of which is set aside specifically for housing veterans and people with disabilities. This funding, the first ever for affordable housing in an Illinois capital budget, will go to the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA).

2010 Federal Budget Signed Into Law

On December 16, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3288, the FY 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) Appropriations Act.

The final T-HUD bill provides $46.1 billion for housing programs, an increase of $4.5 billion over FY 2909 funding. All programs received increased funding except the HOME program, which was level-funded. The final T-HUD bill provides $46.1 billion for housing programs, an increase of $4.5 billion over FY09 funding. All programs received increased funding except the HOME program, which was level-funded.

In addition to increases in program funding, HUD will launch a new comprehensive housing and neighborhood development program, the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, which will be funded within the HOPE VI program. The final FY10 T-HUD appropriation provides $65 million for a Choice Neighborhoods Initiative from within the $200 million for HOPE VI.

For more information, see the National Low Income Housing Coalition's FY10 Budget Chart for Selected HUD Programs at http://www.nlihc.org/doc/FY10-chart-1-5-10.pdf.

Federal Legislation: National Housing Trust Fund and Consumer Protection

On December 16, the House of Representatives passed The Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010 (H.R. 2847) by a vote of 217-212. The $75 billion bill that includes $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund and $65 million for project-based vouchers to be distributed along with NHTF dollars. The Jobs for Main Street Act would be paid for with unused TARP funds.The Senate should take up their version of a jobs bill in January.

It is estimated that $43 million of the NHTF funds will go to Illinois. More information is available at http://www.nlihc.org/doc/NHTF-State-Estimates.pdf.

The vote was mostly along party lines, with most Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. Illinois Representatives Melissa Bean, Bill Foster and Mike Quigley were among the 38 Democrats who voted against the bill.

On December 11, the House approved The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. Once again, the vote was mostly along party lines, with most Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. Illinois Representative Debbie Halvorson was among the 27 Democrats who voted against the bill.

The bill provides for more federal regulation of Wall Street, banks and other financial institutions, including creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers from abusive lending practices, set rules for the trading of some of the sophisticated financial instruments that fueled the crisis, and take steps to reduce the threat that the failure of one or two huge banks or investment firms could topple the entire economy.

The bill is lacking in several ways including-most importantly, by not placing the enforcement of a strengthened Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in the hands of the new agency. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and other consumer-oriented groups will advocate hat the Senate, which has yet to consider their version of such a plan, will be more supportive of a stricter measure. Also President Obama will have input into the final form of legislation as the House and Senate conference their two versions.

More information is available at http://www.ncrc.org/.

Other State Housing News

The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) has finalized the 2010 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. The QAP is available at http://www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=149.

IHDA has also finalized Reaching a Sustainable Future: Illinois' 2010 Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan. The plan is available at http://www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=308.

The state plan for implementing the Neighborhood Stabilization Program has been amended to make to IHDA the lead administrator for the program. Other program changes were made. More information is available http://www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=35.

Cook County Court-Based Foreclosure Mediation Program

On November 19th, 2009, the Cook County Board passed two budget amendments totaling $3.5 million to fund a new court-based mediation program for homeowners at-risk of foreclosure. The effort was led by Action Now, who has been fighting for a foreclosure mediation program in Cook County for over a year. An Advisory Committee representing local government, HUD-certified housing counseling agencies, legal service providers, lender representatives and others is currently working with the Cook County Court system to design the program. The program will be slowly rolled out over the next few months.