(70 ILCS 506/5)

Sec. 5. Findings. The General Assembly determines and declares the following:

(1) that labor surplus areas currently exist in eastern Illinois;

(2) that the economic burdens resulting from involuntary unemployment fall, in part, upon the State in the form of increased need for public assistance and reduced tax revenues and, in the event that the unemployed worker and his or her family migrate elsewhere to find work, the burden may also fall upon the municipalities and other taxing districts within the areas of unemployment in the form of reduced tax revenues, thereby endangering their financial ability to support necessary governmental services for their remaining inhabitants;

(3) that the State has a responsibility to help create a favorable climate for new and improved job opportunities for its citizens by encouraging the development of commercial and service businesses and industrial and manufacturing plants within eastern Illinois;

(4) that a lack of decent housing contributes to urban blight, crime, anti-social behavior, disease, a higher need for public assistance, reduced tax revenues, and the migration of workers and their families away from areas which fail to offer adequate, decent, and affordable housing;

(5) that decent, affordable housing is a necessary ingredient of life affording each citizen basic human dignity, a sense of self-worth, confidence, and a firm foundation upon which to build a family and educate children;

(6) that in order to foster civic and neighborhood pride, citizens require access to educational institutions, recreation, parks and open spaces, entertainment, sports, a reliable transportation network, cultural facilities, and theaters; and

(7) that the main purpose of this Act is to promote industrial, commercial, residential, service, transportation, and recreational activities and facilities, thereby reducing the evils attendant upon unemployment and enhancing the public health, safety, morals, happiness, and general welfare of the State.

(Source: P.A. 94-203, eff. 7-13-05.)