Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) marked a new advocacy win this year: Gov. Pat Quinn signed a $31 billion capital budget that - for the first time in Illinois - includes funding for affordable housing.
Working with several allies, CCH worked two years to convince legislative leaders and two governors’ staffs that housing is a viable use of infrastructure bond funding, as other states already know.
The $134 million dedicated to housing will create 1,529 units, according to the average Illinois subsidy for multifamily rentals in 2009. This funding is much needed, with the Illinois housing trust drained due to the dramatic drop in real estate transfer (sales) tax revenues.
It’s been 10 years since Illinois adopted its last capital budget. Getting housing included in this budget was a significant victory, secured by the collaboration of advocacy and organizing that’s core to the work done by CCH.
CCH worked since May 2007 to persuade state leaders to include affordable housing in its next capital budget plan. In this past 18 months, policy staffers met several times with top aides to both governors. A press conference was organized in July 2008 at which 15 legislators committed support, including future Senate President John Cullerton.
Staffed by homeless and recently homeless people, the CCH Speakers Bureau held 14 in-district meetings with key legislators, participated in three rallies with a governor, and advocated at seven Springfield lobby days. Speakers Bureau leaders spoke about the capital budget at 69 city and suburban venues, mobilizing 3,020 constituent letters and organizing community “core teams” at schools, churches, and synagogues.
Core teams also helped CCH secure some key legislative meetings, including pivotal meetings with the Senate Presidents or their aides in 2008 and 2009. A meeting with Senate Pres. John Cullerton’s top aide in March 2009 was arranged by core teams from DePaul University and Lincoln Park High School, which circulated petitions calling for a meeting with themselves and Speakers Bureau leaders.
CCH will celebrate the capital budget victory at its 29th Annual Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 20. This includes presenting awards to Pres. Cullerton (the Les Brown Award), the housing team at United Power for Action & Justice (the John Donahue Award), and a new leaders award to Speakers Bureau member Stephanie Hooker (the Jerome Alexander Award).
United Power first proposed the capital budget initiative, then worked closely with CCH and several other allies, including Housing Action Illinois, Supportive Housing Providers, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, and the Illinois Housing Council.
After the capital budget was signed in July, early reports put the housing victory at $145 million. Advocates have since learned this included $11 million that will be used to demolish more public housing in Chicago. Of the remaining $134 million dedicated to affordable housing, $4 million is dedicated to already-approved projects and $30 million will fund housing for veterans and the disabled, according to CCH Policy Director Julie Dworkin.
The capital budget victory caps a 10-year, statewide housing campaign, It Takes a Home to Raise a Child. The CCH campaign first got Illinois, in 2000, to create homeless prevention grants for struggling households, fighting each year for full funding. More than 80,000 households have been helped by grants that a year ago averaged $800. Our campaign also convinced legislators in 2005 to create a rent subsidy program that now assists 4,000 low-wage families across Illinois.
Though our Springfield-based campaign has concluded, CCH will continue to advocate on the state level for adequate funding for housing programs, opposing efforts by some state leaders to reallocate housing funds due to the growing budget crisis.
