RHS and LTOS Program Partners

Rental Housing Support Program Partners (known as Local Administering Agencies or LAAs)

Created in July 2005, the RHS program is a state-funded rental assistance program that provides subsidies to tenants living in RHS developments across Illinois. IHDA administers the program overall, and contracts with local administering agencies (LAAs) around the state who manage the program in their communities, including finding and screening tenants.

The RHS program is funded through a $10 fee collected from real estate document recordings. Resources are allocated by the state legislature and then distributed by IHDA to four geographic areas: Chicago, suburban Chicago, small cities, and rural communities. Funding is prorated geographically, based on analysis of the U.S. Census data for the number of low-income households in an area. IHDA is responsible for administering the program for the latter three geographic areas. The allocation for Chicago is directly administered by the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund, a non-profit subsidiary of the Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development. Call (312) 744-0675 for more information about the City of Chicago’s RHS program.

Long Term Operating Costs (LTOS) Program Partners

IHDA administers the Long Term Operating Support (LTOS) program in parallel to the RHS program as a two-pronged approach to ensuring affordability stays within a community. Ten percent of annual appropriations to the RHS program must be reserved for the LTOS program. LTOS is administered very similarly to the RHS program with a few distinct differences:

• IHDA contracts directly with the landlord for a 15-year period, therefore eliminating the relationship with the LAA. Consequently, the landlord is responsible for maintaining his/her own waiting lists etc.
• Preference is put on landlords that offer accessible units for persons with special needs.
  

If you are a landlord or management company interested in registering your development under the LTOS program so that your tenants may receive rental assistance, please contact Matthew Fifer at mfifer@ihda.org or Susan Hopkins at shopkins@ihda.org.

Program Materials

As a partner under the RHS and LTOS programs, agencies and management companies are responsible for the management and compliance of the program in their service area. A library of materials to ensure full program compliance is available in the Info Center of this section under Frequently Used Forms and Documents.

Trainings

Annual trainings are available for LAA and LTOS development staff, usually during the Spring, and when needed via webinar. Details will be available in this section’s Calendar of Events.

For More Information

The Frequently Asked Questions under this section’s Info Center has more information about the RHS and LTOS programs.