Rental Housing Program Overview

The Rental Housing Support Program is a new program through Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) that provides rental assistance to households in Illinois.  Similar to other housing programs, RHS will subsidize units across the state.

The program will not pay for things such as security deposits, emergency rental assistance, or other costs with housing.  It will only cover rent.

IHDA will contract with agencies around the state to manage the program in their area. Those agencies, called Local Administering Agencies (LAAs) will then go out and find landlords to provide units for the program and will accept applications from potential tenants.  Tenants who live in those units need to be low-income and cannot be getting rental assistance from another source.

Am I eligible?

Tenants in the program must be at or below 30% of their area's median income. For example,  in Springfield the limit is $17,520 for a family of three.  Tenants also cannot be receiving rental assistance from another source.

How do I apply?

Local Administering Agencies will be taking applications at various times to ensure there are enough applicants when units become vacant.  You must contact the agency in the area where you want to live to find out when they are taking applications.

Please remember that the agency covering your area will be handling applications and will be the only source for information about taking in applications.

The areas that will are currently covered until this Program, listed by Local Adminstering Agency areas, are:

CEDA	Suburban Cook County
DuPage County Housing Authority	DuPage County (excluding Aurora)
Housing Authority of Joliet	Will County
Housing Choice Partners	Suburban Cook County
Lazarus House	Kane County
McHenry County Housing Authority	McHenry County
Housing Authority of Henry County	Henry, Stark, Bureau County
Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies	Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, Boone, Winnebago, Adams, Brown, Pike, Schuyler, Edwards, Gallatin, Hamilton, Saline, Wabash, Wayne, White, Bureau, Carroll, LaSalle, Lee, Marshall, Ogle, Putnam, Stark, Whiteside, Alexander, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, Union
Kankakee County Housing Authority	Kankakee County
Kendall County Housing Authority	Kendall, Grundy County (excluding Aurora and Joliet)
Winnebago County Housing Authority	Ogle, Jo Daviess
City of Rockford, Human Services Department	City of Rockford
Springfield Housing Authority	City of Springfield
St Clair County IGD	St Clair County
Hsg Authority of Champaign County	Champaign, Rantoul, and Urbana
Madison County Comm Development	Madison County

To view a map showing the areas currently covered by the RHS Program, please click below.

LAA Coverage Map

During 2010 more agencies will be added to the Program.

How much will I pay in rent?

You will pay approximately 30% of your income in rent.  The program has a schedule of rents by income ranges and bedroom size.  Households could pay a little more or a little less than 30% of their income.

Does this include utilities?

In some cases it does, in others it does not.  Some landlords will include utilities in their rent, and others will not.  This will be a decision made by the landlord.