(WSIL) --Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Housing Development Authority announced that the Illinois Rental Payment Program has paid out $70 million to landlords on tenants� behalf in 87 counties.
This comes as the authority reviews nearly 70,000 applications it has received for rental assistance.
An additional $17 million has been approved and is in the process of being paid out with hundreds of millions of additional dollars expected to be sent out the door in the coming weeks in response to applications totaling $664 million in requests for assistance for past due and future rent payments.
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IHDA is continuing to review applications as quickly as possible and is prioritizing requests for tenants who are unemployed and those with very-low household incomes.
To further assist renters affected by the pandemic, tenants will be able to apply for ILRPP assistance directly and invite their landlord to participate in the program beginning June 28. Tenants will also be provided a pathway to complete their application should they have unresponsive landlords.
Tenants will have until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 18 to complete their portion of the application at .
“Even before the pandemic, over 70 percent of extremely low-income families in Illinois were dedicating more than half of their income to rent. Then in the face of the pandemic, many suddenly found they were being laid off, or their workplace was permanently closing, or they needed to stay home to care for children or immunocompromised family members. That’s why I am pleased Illinois is expanding rental relief to $1.5 billion, nearly 4 times the amount that was available last year,â€Â said Governor JB Pritzker. “The Illinois Rental Payment Program will ensure more than 120,000 household renters see relief, with more renters potentially being touched in the future, too. Any eligible resident who rents their home, is behind on payments, and experienced financial hardship in the pandemic is eligible to apply for up to $25,000 of rental assistance paid directly to their housing provider or landlord.â€�
ILRPP is an emergency rental assistance program providing up to $25,000 to support households in Illinois that are unable to pay rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This round of ILRPP assistance will deliver over $500 million in assistance and is expected to assist 63,000 households.
Approximately 90% of the 8,890 approved applications to date have assisted households who have been unemployed for more than 90 days, and 99% of approvals have assisted very-low-income households to keep vulnerable tenants in their homes while they regain financial solvency. The program has provided an average of $9,491 per household.
