SB3351eng 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB3351 Engrossed LRB103 38388 KTG 68523 b

AN ACT concerning housing.

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

Section 5. The Subsidized Housing Joint Occupancy Act is amended by changing Sections 2 and 4 as follows:

(310 ILCS 75/2) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 1352)

Sec. 2. Legislative findings. The General Assembly makes the following findings:

(1) Elderly persons and persons with disabilities frequently desire to share a residence (i) to maximize the effectiveness of the portion of their often limited incomes that is spent for housing; (ii) for protection; and (iii) for assistance in performing necessary daily tasks of life such as cooking and cleaning.

(1-5) Elderly parents of adult children with disabilities frequently desire to share a residence with their adult child with disabilities (i) to maximize the effectiveness of the portion of their often-limited incomes that is spent for housing; (ii) for protection; and (iii) for assistance in performing necessary daily tasks of life such as cooking and cleaning.

(2) Many elderly persons and persons with disabilities desire to live in federally subsidized housing units because of their limited incomes.

(3) Rules of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development permit 2 or more unrelated elderly persons or persons with disabilities to occupy the same unit in federally subsidized housing, although local housing authorities frequently do not permit those persons to occupy the same unit.

(3-5) Rules of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development do not force persons of different generations or opposite sex to share the same bedroom in federally subsidized housing, although local housing authorities frequently require that living situation based upon the local housing authority's occupancy standards.

(4) The State of Illinois should do all it can to assist its elderly persons and persons with disabilities in maximizing the effectiveness of their incomes and to insure that those citizens are not unnecessarily burdened in accomplishing the daily tasks of life.

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)

(310 ILCS 75/4) (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 1354)

Sec. 4. Joint occupancy of subsidized housing.

(a) Two elderly persons or two persons with disabilities who are not related to each other by blood or marriage shall not be prohibited from jointly occupying subsidized housing or a unit of subsidized housing solely because they are not related, provided they have filed a form for such joint occupation with the clerk of the county in which the housing they seek to occupy is located and otherwise meet all other eligibility requirements. A member of the joint occupancy may withdraw from the joint occupancy at any time.

(b) An elderly parent with an adult child with disabilities of the opposite sex shall not be required to occupy subsidized housing with only one bedroom. Exceptions to the largest permissible unit size for subsidized housing shall be made when the elderly parent and adult child with disabilities of the opposite sex otherwise meet all other eligibility requirements.

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)