Public Act 096-0685
 		





HB2470 Enrolled
LRB096 10824 HLH 21045 b






    AN ACT concerning revenue.

 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:


 
    Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended  by changing 
Section 18-173 as follows:
 



    (35 ILCS 200/18-173)



    Sec. 18-173. Housing opportunity area abatement program. 

    (a) For the purpose of promoting access to housing near 
work and in order to
promote economic diversity throughout 
Illinois and to alleviate the
concentration
of low-income 
households in areas of high poverty, a
housing opportunity area 
tax abatement program is created.

    (b) As used in this Section:

    "Housing authority" means either a housing authority 
created under the
Housing Authorities Act or other government 
agency that is authorized by the
United States government
under 
the United States Housing Act of 1937 to administer a housing 
choice
voucher
program, or the authorized agent of such a 
housing authority that is authorized
to
act upon that 
authority's behalf.

    "Housing choice voucher" means a tenant voucher issued by a 
housing authority
under Section 8 of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937 and a tenant voucher converted to a project-based 
voucher by a housing authority.

    "Housing opportunity area" means a census tract where less 
than 10% of the
residents live below the poverty level, as 
defined by the United States
government and determined by the 
most recent United States census, that is
located within a 
qualified township, except for census tracts located within any 
township that is located wholly within a municipality with 
1,000,000 or more inhabitants. A census tract that is  located 
within a township that is located wholly within a municipality 
with 1,000,000 or more inhabitants is considered a housing 
opportunity area if less than 12% of the residents of the 
census tract live below the poverty level.

    "Housing opportunity unit" means a dwelling unit located in 
residential
property that is located in a housing opportunity 
area, that is owned by
the applicant, and that is rented to and 
occupied by a tenant who is
participating in
a housing choice 
voucher program administered by a housing authority as of

January 1st of the tax year for which the application is made.

    "Qualified units" means the number of housing opportunity 
units located in
the property with the limitation that no more 
than 2 units or 20% of
the total units contained within the 
property, whichever is greater, may be
considered qualified 
units. Further, no unit may be considered qualified unless
the 
property in which it is contained is in substantial compliance 
with local
building codes, and, moreover, no unit may be 
considered qualified unless it
meets the United States 
Department of Housing and Urban Development's housing
quality

standards as of the most recent housing authority inspection.

    "Qualified township" means a township located within a 
county with 200,000 or
more inhabitants whose tax capacity 
exceeds 80% 100% of the average tax capacity of
the county in 
which it is located, except for townships located within a 
county
with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, where a qualified 
township means a township
whose tax capacity exceeds 115% of 
the average tax capacity of the county
except for townships 
located wholly within a municipality with 1,000,000 or
more 
inhabitants. All townships located wholly within a 
municipality with
1,000,000 or more inhabitants are considered 
qualified townships.

    "Tax capacity" means the equalized assessed value of all 
taxable real estate
located within a township or county divided 
by the total population of that
township or county.

    (c) The owner of property located within a housing 
opportunity area who has
a housing choice voucher contract with 
a housing authority may apply for a
housing opportunity area 
tax abatement by annually submitting an application to
the 
housing authority that administers the housing choice voucher 
contract. The
application must include the number of housing 
opportunity units as well as the
total number of dwelling units 
contained within the property.  The owner must,
under oath, 
self-certify as to the total number of dwelling units in the

property and must self-certify that the property is in 
substantial compliance
with local building codes.  The housing

authority shall annually determine the number of qualified 
units located within
each property for which an application is 
made.

    The housing authority shall establish rules and procedures 
governing the
application processes and may charge an 
application fee.  The county clerk may
audit the
applications to 
determine that the properties subject
to the tax abatement meet 
the requirements of this Section.  The
determination of 
eligibility of a property for the housing opportunity area

abatement shall be
made annually; however, no property may 
receive an abatement for more than 10
tax years.

    (d) The housing authority shall determine housing 
opportunity areas within
its service area and annually deliver 
to the county clerk, in a manner
determined by the county 
clerk, a list of all properties containing qualified
units 
within that service area by December 31st of the tax year for 
which the
property is eligible for abatement; the list shall 
include the number of
qualified units and the total number of 
dwelling units for each property.

    The county clerk shall deliver annually to a housing 
authority, upon
that housing authority's request, the most 
recent available equalized assessed
value for the county as a 
whole and for those taxing districts and townships so
specified 
by the requesting housing authority.

    (e) The county clerk shall abate the tax attributed to a 
portion of the
property determined to be eligible for a housing 
opportunity area abatement.
The portion eligible for abatement 
shall be determined by reducing the
equalized assessment value 
by a percentage calculated using the following
formula: 19% of 
the equalized assessed value of the property
multiplied by a 
fraction where the numerator is the number of
qualified units 
and denominator is the total number of dwelling units
located 
within the property.

    (f) Any municipality, except for municipalities with 
1,000,000 or more
inhabitants, may annually petition the county 
clerk
to be excluded from a housing opportunity area if it is 
able to demonstrate
that more than 2.5% of the total 
residential units located within that
municipality are 
occupied by tenants under the housing choice voucher program.

Properties located within an excluded municipality shall not be 
eligible for
the housing opportunity area abatement for the tax 
year in which the petition
is made.

    (g) Applicability.  This Section applies to tax years 2004 
through
2014, unless extended by law.

(Source: P.A. 93-316, eff. 7-23-03.)

 

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.