SPRINGFIELD – To ensure families with limited economic resources have access to affordable, permanent housing, State Senator Cristina H. Pacione-Zayas is the Senate sponsor of new legislation to provide increased funding for the Rental Housing Support Program.

“Without affordable housing options, folks may lose their jobs, be displaced from their community and separated from their families,” said Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago). “It is imperative that we continue to invest in affordable housing programs so that we increase access all over the state, and this initiative takes the first steps to do just that.”

Since 2005, the Rental Housing Support Program has provided rental assistance to households by subsidizing rental apartments and homes. As a participant in this program, a family with very limited economic resources has their rent subsidized through a contract with private landlords and RHSP to close the gap between what they can afford and market rate rent. RHSP paying the difference allows building owners to offer housing for families with limited economic resources and still meet their ownership costs. The program currently houses over 4,000 families across the state, and with this increase in the funding stream, thousands more could benefit.

Under current law, the RHSP’s funds are collected from fees to county clerk offices for requesting real estate documentation. However, these fees and the percentage of the fee that goes to the RHSP, have not been increased since the program’s inception in 2005, limiting RHSP’s impact, especially more so with inflation. The initiative will increase these fees, as well as the amount of the fee that goes toward the Rental Housing Support Program. It will also create a task force to ensure rental housing support funds will be distributed equitably across the state and prioritize communities that historically have not been able to take full advantage.

State Representative Curtis Tarver is the lead House sponsor of the bill. “I think it is reasonable that those of us who are fortunate enough to purchase a home to allot an additional $10 to ensure others have the ability to be housed,” said Tarver (D-Chicago).

“Housing is a human right,” Pacione-Zayas said. “With rising costs of rent and underfunded programs, too many people are not afforded this fundamental need. Increasing funding for the Rental Housing Support Program will increase access to housing and is another tool we have to address the affordable housing crisis across the state.”

House Bill 3878 passed both houses on January 6, 2023. It now goes to the governor’s desk to become law.