310 ILCS 67/25

(310 ILCS 67/25)

Sec. 25. Affordable housing plan.

(a) Prior to April 1, 2005, all non-exempt local governments must approve an affordable housing plan. Any local government that is determined by the Illinois Housing Development Authority under Section 20 to be non-exempt for the first time based on the recalculation of U.S. Census Bureau data after 2010 shall have 18 months from the date of notification of its non-exempt status to approve an affordable housing plan under this Act. On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, an affordable housing plan, or any revision thereof, shall not be adopted by a non-exempt local government until notice and opportunity for public hearing have first been afforded.

(b) For the purposes of this Act, the affordable housing plan shall consist of at least the following:

(i) a statement of the total number of affordable housing units that are necessary to exempt the local government from the operation of this Act as defined in Section 15 and Section 20;

(ii) an identification of lands within the jurisdiction that are most appropriate for the construction of affordable housing and of existing structures most appropriate for conversion to, or rehabilitation for, affordable housing, including a consideration of affordable housing for both owner-occupied dwelling units and dwelling units for rent, lands and structures of developers who have expressed a commitment to provide affordable housing, and lands and structures that are publicly or semi-publicly owned;

(iii) incentives that local governments may provide for the purpose of attracting affordable housing to their jurisdiction;

(iv) a description of any housing market conditions, infrastructure limitations, local government ordinances, including zoning and land use ordinances, local government policies or practices that do not affirmatively further fair housing as defined in the federal Fair Housing Act, and other factors that may constrain the local government's ability to create and preserve affordable housing;

(v) a plan or potential strategies to eliminate or mitigate these constraints identified in item (iv);

(vi) one or more of the following goals: a minimum of 15% of all new development or redevelopment within the local government that would be defined as affordable housing in this Act; a minimum of a 5 percentage point increase in the overall percentage of affordable housing within its jurisdiction, as described in subsection (b) of Section 20 of this Act; or a minimum of a total of 10% affordable housing within its jurisdiction as described in subsection (b) of Section 20 of this Act. These goals may be met, in whole or in part, through the creation of affordable housing units under intergovernmental agreements as described in subsection (e) of this Section; and

(vii) proposed timelines to commence, within the first 24 months after the date upon which the affordable housing plan was adopted, for actions to implement the components of the affordable housing plan.

Local governments that have previously been determined as a non-exempt municipality and that have submitted an affordable housing plan shall also include a summary of actions taken to implement the previously submitted plan, as well as a summary of progress made toward achieving the goals of the plan.

To comply with the affordable housing plan requirements, no later than 4 years after adopting or updating an affordable housing plan the local government shall submit a report to the Illinois Housing Development Authority summarizing actions taken to implement the current plan.

(c) Within 60 days after the adoption of an affordable housing plan or revisions to its affordable housing plan, the local government must submit a copy of that plan to the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

(d) In order to promote the goals of this Act and to maximize the creation, establishment, or preservation of affordable housing throughout the State of Illinois, a local government, whether exempt or non-exempt under this Act, may adopt the following measures to address the need for affordable housing:

(1) Local governments may individually or jointly create or participate in a housing trust fund or otherwise provide funding or support for the purpose of supporting affordable housing, including, without limitation, to support the following affordable housing activities:

(A) Housing production, including, without limitation, new construction, rehabilitation, and adaptive re-use.

(B) Acquisition, including, without limitation, land, single-family homes, multi-unit buildings, and other existing structures that may be used in whole or in part for residential use.

(C) Rental payment assistance.

(D) Home-ownership purchase assistance.

(E) Preservation of existing affordable housing.

(F) Weatherization.

(G) Emergency repairs.

(H) Housing related support services, including homeownership education and financial counseling.

(I) Grants or loans to not-for-profit organizations engaged in addressing the affordable housing needs of low-income and moderate-income households.

Local governments may authorize housing trust funds to accept and utilize funds, property, and other resources from all proper and lawful public and private sources so long as those funds are used solely for addressing the affordable housing needs of individuals or households that may occupy low-income or moderate-income housing.

(2) A local government may create a community land trust, which may: acquire developed or undeveloped interests in real property and hold them for affordable housing purposes; convey such interests under long-term leases, including ground leases; convey such interests for affordable housing purposes; and retain an option to reacquire any such real property interests at a price determined by a formula ensuring that such interests may be utilized for affordable housing purposes.

(3) A local government may use its zoning powers to require the creation and preservation of affordable housing as authorized under Section 5-12001 of the Counties Code and Section 11-13-1 of the Illinois Municipal Code.

(4) A local government may accept donations of money or land for the purpose of addressing the affordable housing needs of individuals or households that may occupy low-income or moderate-income housing. These donations may include, without limitation, donations of money or land from persons, as long as the donations are demonstrably used to preserve, create, or subsidize low-income housing or moderate-income housing within the jurisdiction.

(e) In order to encourage regional cooperation and the maximum creation of affordable housing in areas lacking such housing in the State of Illinois, any non-exempt local government may enter into intergovernmental agreements under subsection (e) of Section 25 with local governments within 10 miles of its corporate boundaries in order to create affordable housing units to meet the goals of this Act. A non-exempt local government may not enter into an intergovernmental agreement, however, with any local government that contains more than 25% affordable housing as determined under Section 20 of this Act. All intergovernmental agreements entered into to create affordable housing units to meet the goals of this Act must also specify the basis for determining how many of the affordable housing units created will be credited to each local government participating in the agreement for purposes of complying with this Act. All intergovernmental agreements entered into to create affordable housing units to meet the goals of this Act must also specify the anticipated number of newly created affordable housing units that are to be credited to each local government participating in the agreement for purposes of complying with this Act. In specifying how many affordable housing units will be credited to each local government, the same affordable housing unit may not be counted by more than one local government.

(f) To enforce compliance with the provisions of this Section, and to encourage local governments to submit their affordable housing plans to the Illinois Housing Development Authority in a timely manner, the Illinois Housing Development Authority shall notify any local government and may notify the Office of the Attorney General that the local government is in violation of State law if the Illinois Housing Development Authority finds that the affordable housing plan submitted is not in substantial compliance with this Section or that the local government failed to submit an affordable housing plan. The Attorney General may enforce this provision of the Act by an action for mandamus or injunction or by means of other appropriate relief.

(g) The Illinois Housing Development Authority shall post each affordable housing plan submitted by a local government on the Illinois Housing Development Authority's website.

(Source: P.A. 102-175, eff. 7-29-21; 103-487, eff. 1-1-24.)