ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS (December 14, 2021) — The Illinois Housing Development Authority has announced applications are now open for the second round of the Illinois Rental Payment (ILRPP) program. The reopening of ILRPP will provide an additional $297 million to renters and landlords/housing provider in an effort to prevent evictions and keep families safe and secure while they regain their financial footing. It is the third major housing relief initiative in response to the pandemic in Illinois.
State officials will be presenting information about how to apply for the funding on Thursday, December 16, 1PM, at the Camden Centre in Milan (2701 1st Street, East Milan, Illinois). Applications will be accepted through 11:59PM, Sunday, January 9, 2022, at illinoishousinghelp.org. IHDA will begin processing applications as they are submitted, and money from this round will begin to be distributed to approved Illinoisans before the end of the calendar year. The additional ILRPP funding is expected to assist more than 32,500 Illinois households.
ILRPP provides direct funding to support Illinois tenants unable to pay their rent due to a COVID-19-related loss of income. Approved applicants will receive one-time grants of up to $25,000, paid directly to their landlords/housing provider on their behalf. If the housing provider chooses not to participate in the program, tenants may receive payments directly to make rental payments. In this application round, assistance will cover up to eighteen months of emergency rental payments, including up to fifteen months of missed payments and up to three months of future payments. Rent owed from June 2020 through April 2022 may be paid for with ILRPP funds. Priority will be given to households earning less than 50% of AMI and to households with one or more members who have been unemployed for at least 90 days.
Tenant eligibility requirements:
- Household lives in Illinois and rents their home as their primary residence;
- Household must have experienced a financial hardship directly or indirectly due to the pandemic;
- Household income is below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), adjusted for household size;
- Household must have an unpaid rent balance;
- Proof of citizenship is not required. Rental assistance is not a "public charge" benefit; and
- Tenants residing in state- or federally-subsidized housing are eligible to apply.
Project NOW also has 1.4 million dollars of COVID relief monies to help struggling renters. Executive Director Dwight Ford says renter and landlords must work together to tap into the dollars we have available. Contact Project NOW at 309-793-6391 for assistance for either the state program or Project NOW’s.
In the first ILRPP application round, IHDA approved more than 62,400 applications and paid out $571 million on behalf of renters experiencing pandemic-related hardships. Approximately 55 percent of the approved applications assisted households who had been unemployed for more than ninety days, and 87 percent of approvals assisted very-low-income households to keep vulnerable tenants in their homes. The program provided an average of $9,152 per household.
For more information and updates on the program, please visit illinoishousinghelp.org.
