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House Bill 2775 would require Illinois landlords to participate
in the federal Section 8 housing program by amending the state’s
Homeless Prevention Act, and would also create additional legal
defenses for renters who have conflicts with ladlords.
Gideon Bluestein, senior director of Local Government and
External Affairs with Illinois Realtors, said the bill is
getting support in Springfield because the name is deceiving.
“They titled the bill ‘Homelessness Prevention’ and then they
run around and pick up cosponsors based on that,” Bluestien
said. “Go to legislators and say ‘Hey, don’t you want to
cosponsor my homelessness Prevention bill?’ Well of course, sign
me up.”
The legislation would protect renters from discrimination based
on income, forcing landlords into participating in Section 8 or
the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which is currently optional.
Section 8 is rental assistance for low income individuals.
The legislation also would mandate that housing providers who
require tenants or prospective tenants to have a certain
threshold level of income to subtract any subsidies the tenant
receives from the monthly rent before calculating if the income
criteria has been met.
“This would specifically mandate participation in any and all
programs that are offered to a tenant,” Bluestien said. “So that
could be rental assistance programs or might be a private
foundation's program.”
The bill, which has dozens of cosponsors in the House and
Senate, resulted in over 300 witnesses voicing support for the
measure and around 50 expressing opposition.
Paul Arena, director of legislative affairs at the Illinois
Rental Property Owners Association, said if the legislation
becomes law, landlords statewide will lose control.
“It’s a blank check for government to further control rental
properties moving forward, and that’s why it’s so dangerous,”
said Arena.
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