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Now that lawmakers have approved general state budget funding levels for the fiscal year that begins in July, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and his staff have to determine specific funding levels for every program.

Agencies are already turning people in need of housing away due to state budget cuts. Sixty-one agencies that responded to a survey conducted by Housing Action Illinois and others turned away 1,292 people in January 2010 because of prior year state budget cuts, representing 9% of the 13,720 people they were able to serve. This does not include additional people who were turned away for issues not related to state budget cuts, such as lack of bed space.

Among the budget line items greatly at risk of cuts are the following programs that provide housing and serve people experiencing homelessness:

1. The Emergency and Transitional Housing Program provides immediate and comprehensive shelter services to homeless persons and persons at risk of becoming homeless.

2. The Homeless Prevention Program provides rental assistance, utility assistance, and supportive services directly related to the prevention of homelessness to eligible individuals and families who are in danger of eviction, foreclosure, or homelessness, or are currently homeless.

3. The Homeless Youth Program provides services for youth who are 21 years of age or younger who cannot return home and lack the housing and resources necessary to live independently.

4. The Supportive Housing Services Program provides supportive services coupled with affordable housing to enable formerly homeless individuals and families, those in danger of becoming homeless, or persons with disabilities to be appropriately and cost-efficiently housed in the community.

The following two dedicated funds are at-risk of fund "sweeps" that will reduce their resources:

1. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund provides funding for the construction and preservation of affordable housing units.

2. The Rental Housing Support Program Fund provides rental subsidies to extremely low-income households throughout the state.

Please contact Governor Quinn today. Ask him to fully fund these programs and and to make people at-risk of homelessness a top priority in final budget decisions. Also ask him to continue working to get Illinois to adopt a budget including significant new revenue in order to avoid more harmful cuts to vital programs, pay past due bills and fix the structural deficit to prevent a similar crisis in the future.

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