Public Act 095-0887
 
HB5238 Enrolled LRB095 17084 DRJ 43137 b

    AN ACT concerning housing.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Housing Authorities Act is amended by
changing Sections 8.2, 14, 17, and 24 as follows:
 
    (310 ILCS 10/8.2)  (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 8.2)
    Sec. 8.2. Projects; competitive bidding; arrangement with
for-profit developer. An Authority has power to prepare, carry
out and operate projects; to provide for the construction,
reconstruction, improvement, alteration or repair of any
project or any part thereof; to take over by purchase, lease,
or otherwise any project undertaken by any government; to act
as agent for the Federal government in connection with the
acquisition, construction, operation, or management of a
project or any part thereof; to arrange with any government
within the area of operation for the furnishing, planning,
replanning, opening or closing of streets, roads, roadways,
alleys, parks, or other places of public facilities or for the
acquisition by any government or any agency, instrumentality or
subdivision thereof, of property, options or property rights or
for the furnishing of property or services in connection with a
project; to function as an agency of the city, village,
incorporated town or county for which it is constituted an
Authority and to act as an agent (when so designated) for any
government, with respect to matters relating to housing and the
purposes of this Act, including action for the elimination of
unsafe and unsanitary dwellings, the provision of rental
assistance, the clearing and redevelopment of blighted or slum
areas, the assembly of improved and unimproved land for
development or redevelopment purposes, the conservation and
rehabilitation of existing housing, and the provision of
decent, safe and sanitary and affordable housing
accommodations, and to utilize any and all of its powers to
assist governments in any manner which will tend to further the
objectives of this Act; to assist through the exercise of the
powers herein conferred any individual, association,
corporation or organization which presents a plan for
developing or redeveloping any property within the area of
operation of the Authority which will tend to provide decent,
safe and sanitary and affordable housing, or promote other uses
essential to sound community growth.
    In counties having a population of less than 1,000,000, any
contract in which State funds are used for repair, improvement
or rehabilitation of existing improvements that involves
expenditures that meet the requirements applicable to either
federal or State programs shall be let by free and competitive
bidding to the lowest responsible bidder upon bond and subject
to regulations as may be set by the Department and with the
written approval of the Department. In the case of an emergency
affecting the public health or safety declared by a majority
vote of the commissioners of the Housing Authority, contracts
may be let, to the extent necessary to resolve an emergency,
without public advertisement or competitive bidding.
    In addition to the powers conferred by this Act and other
laws concerning housing authorities, a Housing Authority in any
municipality having a population in excess of 1,000,000 shall
be authorized to participate as a partner or member of a
partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, or
other form of a business arrangement with a for-profit
developer or non-profit developer and shall have all powers
deemed necessary and appropriate to engage in the
rehabilitation and development or ownership, or both
development and ownership, of low-income and mixed-income
rental and for-sale housing as a partner or member of a
partnership, limited liability company, or joint venture.
(Source: P.A. 87-200.)
 
    (310 ILCS 10/14)  (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 14)
    Sec. 14. Approval of projects by Department. Prior to the
acquisition of title to any real property an Authority shall
submit to the Department data as to the location and cost of
the property, and prior to the undertaking of any construction
or other initiation of a project an Authority shall submit to
the Department the proposed plans, specifications and
estimates of the costs and a statement of the proposed methods
of financing and operating the project. An Authority shall not
finally acquire title to any real estate nor undertake the
construction or operation of a project without the approval of
the Department; provided that, if the Department shall fail
within thirty days after receipt thereof to state its
disapproval of the proposals or such modifications thereof as
it may deem desirable, the proposals shall be deemed to have
been approved as submitted. No change involving an expenditure
of more than twenty-five hundred dollars ($2500) shall be made
in any proposal approved by the Department without submission
to the Department in the manner prescribed in this Section. The
provisions of this Section shall not apply with reference to
any project which is or is to be financed in whole or in part by
the federal government or any agency or instrumentality thereof
or undertaken pursuant to the additional powers conferred in
Section 8.2 upon housing authorities in any municipality having
a population in excess of 1,000,000 pursuant to this amendatory
Act of the 95th General Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 82-783.)
 
    (310 ILCS 10/17)  (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 17)
    Sec. 17. Definitions. The following terms, wherever used or
referred to in this Act shall have the following respective
meanings, unless in any case a different meaning clearly
appears from the context:
    (a) "Authority" or "housing authority" shall mean a
municipal corporation organized in accordance with the
provisions of this Act for the purposes, with the powers and
subject to the restrictions herein set forth.
    (b) "Area" or "area of operation" shall mean: (1) in the
case of an authority which is created hereunder for a city,
village, or incorporated town, the area within the territorial
boundaries of said city, village, or incorporated town, and so
long as no county housing authority has jurisdiction therein,
the area within three miles from such territorial boundaries,
except any part of such area located within the territorial
boundaries of any other city, village, or incorporated town;
and (2) in the case of a county shall include all of the county
except the area of any city, village or incorporated town
located therein in which there is an Authority. When an
authority is created for a county subsequent to the creation of
an authority for a city, village or incorporated town within
the same county, the area of operation of the authority for
such city, village or incorporated town shall thereafter be
limited to the territory of such city, village or incorporated
town, but the authority for such city, village or incorporated
town may continue to operate any project developed in whole or
in part in an area previously a part of its area of operation,
or may contract with the county housing authority with respect
to the sale, lease, development or administration of such
project. When an authority is created for a city, village or
incorporated town subsequent to the creation of a county
housing authority which previously included such city, village
or incorporated town within its area of operation, such county
housing authority shall have no power to create any additional
project within the city, village or incorporated town, but any
existing project in the city, village or incorporated town
currently owned and operated by the county housing authority
shall remain in the ownership, operation, custody and control
of the county housing authority.
    (c) "Presiding officer" shall mean the presiding officer of
the board of a county, or the mayor or president of a city,
village or incorporated town, as the case may be, for which an
Authority is created hereunder.
    (d) "Commissioner" shall mean one of the members of an
Authority appointed in accordance with the provisions of this
Act.
    (e) "Government" shall include the State and Federal
governments and the governments of any subdivisions, agency or
instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them.
    (f) "Department" shall mean the Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity.
    (g) "Project" shall include all lands, buildings, and
improvements, acquired, owned, leased, managed or operated by a
housing authority, and all buildings and improvements
constructed, reconstructed or repaired by a housing authority,
designed to provide housing accommodations and facilities
appurtenant thereto (including community facilities and
stores) which are planned as a unit, whether or not acquired or
constructed at one time even though all or a portion of the
buildings are not contiguous or adjacent to one another; and
the planning of buildings and improvements, the acquisition of
property, the demolition of existing structures, the clearing
of land, the construction, reconstruction, and repair of
buildings or improvements and all other work in connection
therewith. As provided in Sections 8.14 to 8.18, inclusive,
"project" also means, for Housing Authorities for
municipalities of less than 500,000 population and for
counties, the conservation of urban areas in accordance with an
approved conservation plan. "Project" shall also include (1)
acquisition of (i) a slum or blighted area or a deteriorated or
deteriorating area which is predominantly residential in
character, or (ii) any other deteriorated or deteriorating area
which is to be developed or redeveloped for predominantly
residential uses, or (iii) platted urban or suburban land which
is predominantly open and which because of obsolete platting,
diversity of ownership, deterioration of structures or of site
improvements, or otherwise substantially impairs or arrests
the sound growth of the community and which is to be developed
for predominantly residential uses, or (iv) open unplatted
urban or suburban land necessary for sound community growth
which is to be developed for predominantly residential uses, or
(v) any other area where parcels of land remain undeveloped
because of improper platting, delinquent taxes or special
assessments, scattered or uncertain ownerships, clouds on
title, artificial values due to excessive utility costs, or any
other impediments to the use of such area for predominantly
residential uses; (2) installation, construction, or
reconstruction of streets, utilities, and other site
improvements essential to the preparation of sites for uses in
accordance with the development or redevelopment plan; and (3)
making the land available for development or redevelopment by
private enterprise or public agencies (including sale, initial
leasing, or retention by the local public agency itself). If in
any city, village or incorporated town there exists a land
clearance commission created under the "Blighted Areas
Redevelopment Act of 1947" having the same area of operation as
a housing authority created in and for any such municipality
such housing authority shall have no power to acquire land of
the character described in subparagraph (iii), (iv) or (v) of
paragraph 1 of the definition of "project" for the purpose of
development or redevelopment by private enterprise.
    (h) "Community facilities" shall include lands, buildings,
and equipment for recreation or social assembly, for education,
health or welfare activities and other necessary utilities
primarily for use and benefit of the occupants of housing
accommodations to be constructed, reconstructed, repaired or
operated hereunder.
    (i) "Real property" shall include lands, lands under water,
structures, and any and all easements, franchises and
incorporeal hereditaments and estates, and rights, legal and
equitable, including terms for years and liens by way of
judgment, mortgage or otherwise.
    (j) The term "governing body" shall include the city
council of any city, the president and board of trustees of any
village or incorporated town, the council of any city or
village, and the county board of any county.
    (k) The phrase "individual, association, corporation or
organization" shall include any individual, private
corporation, limited or general partnership, limited liability
company, insurance company, housing corporation, neighborhood
redevelopment corporation, non-profit corporation,
incorporated or unincorporated group or association,
educational institution, hospital, or charitable organization,
and any mutual ownership or cooperative organization.
    (l) "Conservation area", for the purpose of the exercise of
the powers granted in Sections 8.14 to 8.18, inclusive, for
housing authorities for municipalities of less than 500,000
population and for counties, means an area of not less than 2
acres in which the structures in 50% or more of the area are
residential having an average age of 35 years or more. Such an
area is not yet a slum or blighted area as defined in the
Blighted Areas Redevelopment Act of 1947, but such an area by
reason of dilapidation, obsolescence, deterioration or illegal
use of individual structures, overcrowding of structures and
community facilities, conversion of residential units into
non-residential use, deleterious land use or layout, decline of
physical maintenance, lack of community planning, or any
combination of these factors may become a slum and blighted
area.
    (m) "Conservation plan" means the comprehensive program
for the physical development and replanning of a "Conservation
Area" as defined in paragraph (l) embodying the steps required
to prevent such Conservation Area from becoming a slum and
blighted area.
    (n) "Fair use value" means the fair cash market value of
real property when employed for the use contemplated by a
"Conservation Plan" in municipalities of less than 500,000
population and in counties.
    (o) "Community facilities" means, in relation to a
"Conservation Plan", those physical plants which implement,
support and facilitate the activities, services and interests
of education, recreation, shopping, health, welfare, religion
and general culture.
    (p) "Loan agreement" means any agreement pursuant to which
an Authority agrees to loan the proceeds of its revenue bonds
issued with respect to a multifamily rental housing project or
other funds of the Authority to any person upon terms providing
for loan repayment installments at least sufficient to pay when
due all principal of, premium, if any, and interest on the
revenue bonds of the Authority issued with respect to the
multifamily rental housing project, and providing for
maintenance, insurance, and other matters as may be deemed
desirable by the Authority.
    (q) "Multifamily rental housing" means any rental project
designed for mixed-income or low-income occupancy.
(Source: P.A. 94-793, eff. 5-19-06.)
 
    (310 ILCS 10/24)  (from Ch. 67 1/2, par. 24)
    Sec. 24. Management and operation of housing projects. It
is hereby declared to be the policy of this State that each
housing authority shall manage and operate its housing projects
in an efficient manner so as to enable it to fix the rentals
for dwellings at the lowest possible rates consistent with its
providing decent, safe and sanitary and affordable dwellings,
and that no Housing Authority shall construct or operate any
project for profit, or as a source of revenue to a city,
village, incorporated town or county. To this end an Authority
shall fix the rentals for dwellings in its projects at no
higher rates than it shall find to be necessary in order to
produce revenues which (together with all other available
moneys, revenues, income and receipts of the Authority from
whatever sources derived) will be sufficient (a) to pay, as the
same becomes due, the principal and interest on the bonds of
the Authority; (b) to meet and provide for the cost of
maintaining and operating the projects (including the cost of
any insurance on the projects or bonds issued therefor) and the
administrative expenses of the Authority; (c) to create (during
not less than the ten years immediately succeeding its issuance
of any bonds) a reserve sufficient to meet the large principal
and interest payments which will be due on bonds in any 2
consecutive years thereafter, and to maintain a reserve; and
(d) to create a reasonable reserve solely from any
contributions or grants to the Authority from the federal
government, the State, or any political subdivision of the
State for the purpose of meeting the cost of maintaining and
operating the project and of paying the principal and interest
on its bonds. The management of low-rent public housing
projects financed and developed under the U.S. Housing Act of
1937, as now or hereafter amended, shall be in accordance with
the provisions of that Act. The provisions of this Section 24
shall not apply to any project undertaken pursuant to the
additional powers conferred in Section 8.2 upon housing
authorities in any municipality having a population in excess
of 1,000,000 pursuant to this amendatory Act of the 95th
General Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 87-200.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.