Thank you for allowing us to assist you in your search for income based housing in your State. On this page you will find our comprehensive list of government, state and local programs made available for low income families and individuals. To help you even further we have provided a list of as many rental homes and apartments in areas where we can find listing. Search the alphabetical list below for a list from your city.

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The state of Illinois boasts the largest rental assistance programs in the United States.  Called the Illinois Fair Housing Initiative’s Rental Housing Support Program this program is administered by the Illinois State Housing Development Authority which is committed to making the creation of low-income rental housing feasible.

The IDHA is financing entity funded by the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the Illinois Affordable Housing Donations Tax Credit Fund, the allocation of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits; federal HOME Investment Partnership Program funds and also independently sells its own bonds.

The IDHA has, in its history, financed 204,000 units of low income housing, bringing affordable housing to each county in the state of Illinois.  The IDHA works within the guidelines and structures established by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Rental Housing Support Program is the mechanism through which Federal Section 8 tax credit programs are administered within the state.  This program consists of two parts, property based tax credits otherwise known as Project Based Section 8 and as is indicated by its name, the subsidy and rental reduction stay with the unit; and the Housing Choice voucher, otherwise known as Tenant Based Section 8, which is portable, awarded to a specific qualifying tenant.

Housing Action Illinois formerly known as SHAC or the Statewide Housing Action Coalition was created in 1986 and was founded as a result of the efforts of the Campaign for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.  The organizers of the trust fund immediately saw the need for “a collaborative statewide organization to move affordable housing and tenant right issues forward.”  This group’s primary mission is to protect and expand the availability of quality affordable housing throughout the state of Illinois and towards this end provides local communities three programs:  Organizing; Policy Advocacy and Training and Technical Assistance.  Members of the coalition include housing counseling agencies, homeless service providers as well as developers of affordable housing and policy makers.

The State of Illinois is also home to several private charities that offer rental and mortgage assistance to low income applicants in need.  Among these are:

• Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois
• We Care of Grundy County, Inc.
• Catholic Charities of the Dioceses of Joliet and Springfield
• The Salvation Army
• Respond Now of Chicago Heights, Illinois
• City of Chicago Rent Assistance
• New Age Housing Assistance Foundation

These are but a few of the private charities available statewide which seek to help low income meet rental and mortgage payments on an emergency basis as well as to provide support for longer term solutions to low income housing needs. Many of these charities also provide utilities and basic needs assistance.

There are at least two websites than can help low income individuals and families locate the Illinois programs nearest them:

Rent Assistance:

http://www.rentassistance.us/

and Charity Navigator:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/