Problem:
From FY 2008 to FY 2011, line items specifically dedicated to homeless services were reduced by over $10 million or 41%. The additional $6 million in cuts proposed in Governor Quinn's FY 2012 budget would reduce these services by a cumulative total of 65%.
Solution:
By advocating to preserve these programs, you can help make sure these important programs continue to be available:
When stable housing is unavoidably lost, a family can seek Emergency and Transitional Housing Programs rather than squat in an abandoned building not knowing if they will have a meal that day. Fifty-four percent exited into permanent or transitional housing.
A family facing a one-time economic crisis can avoid eviction with the assistance of the Homeless Prevention Program. Eighty-nine percent of households stayed housed 4 months after using homeless prevention funds.
Homeless unaccompanied youth fleeing abuse at home or violence on the street can achieve stability and independence with the help of Homeless Youth Programs. Eighty-seven percent of homeless youth exited programs into safe, stable housing.
Individuals and families, veterans, and people with disabilities can move from shelter to achieve long term stability with Supportive Housing Services in a community-based setting, saving the state $2,400 annually in institutional costs for each individual served.
Action Needed:
Contact your state legislators and ask them to pursue every option for maximizing the resources available to maintain these crucial public services in the following year.
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The scheduled end of the General Assembly session is May 31. To prevent cuts to programs addressing homelessness and creating affordable housing, we need to you contact your state legislators, especially if they serve on the House Human Services Appropriations Committee or Senate Appropriations Committee I.
From FY 2008 to FY 2011, line items specifically dedicated to homeless services were reduced by over $10 million or 41%. The additional $6 million in cuts proposed in Governor Quinn's FY 2012 budget would reduce these services by a cumulative total of 65%.
Here's a summary of the programs we are focused on and our goals:
* Maintain Homeless Prevention funding at $2.4 million and work to restore previous cuts by FY 2013, when federal Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing (HPRP) funds will have run out. State homeless prevention funding was reduced from $11 million to $2.4 million in FY 2010 and is slated for an additional cut to $1 million in the FY 2012 budget proposal.
* Maintain funding of Emergency and Transitional Housing at $9.1 million, as funded in FY 2011. Cutting the program in half, as proposed in the FY 2012 budget, would reduce access to homeless shelters for people who have no place else to go.
* Restore Homeless Youth Programs' funding to $4.7 million. While FY 2012's proposed budget keeps homeless youth services' funding level with FY 2011, this life‐saving program for unaccompanied youth was hard hit by a 31% cut (or approximately $1.5 million) in FY 11.
* Maintain FY 2011 funding for Supportive Housing Services and add $2.4 million for new units next year. The Governor's introduced budget included enough supportive housing funding to continue services in the 8,700 units of housing around the state as well as funding 879 new units opening next year. However, the Senate and House Appropriations bills would cut $5.4 million from this program.
Existing Revenues Can Reduce Harmful Budget Cuts Without New Taxes
As a member of the Responsible Budget Coalition, we believe that state leaders should pursue every option for maximizing the resources available to maintain crucial public services. The House has adopted revenue projections (HR110) and spending allocations (HR156) that require cuts $2.6 billion below the appropriations proposed by the Governor for FY2012. The first five revenue options presented below could reduce those cuts to less than $300 million. This can be done in the following ways that require no increase in taxes (additional revenue raised noted in parentheses):
* Use the most accurate revenue estimates possible. The legislature's own bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability has the best track record for accurate revenue projections. The Senate is using CGFA's conservative estimate of FY12 revenue (SJR129). The House is using a different estimate that is $1.1 billion less, which would force much deeper budget cuts. Both chambers should use the CGFA estimate. ($1.1 billion)
* Do not provide an accelerated, $600 million state tax break for large businesses. The federal government is giving businesses a new, "bonus depreciation" tax break by letting them immediately deduct the entire cost of machinery and equipment purchases, rather than over the course of a few years. Our state's definition of taxable income is based on the federal definition. Thus, unless Springfield acts to "decouple" from this accelerated federal benefit, it will cost Illinois about $600 million in FY12 tax revenues. In a bipartisan vote, the General Assembly decoupled state tax law from a similar federal tax break in 2002; we should do likewise now. Illinois businesses still will retain about $5 billion from the federal benefit, and they still could deduct capital expenses from state taxes on the ordinary, multi-year depreciation schedule. ($600 million)
* Identify possible revenues within "statutory transfers" that are made annually from the General Funds into special state funds. There are $2.3 billion in transfers projected for FY12. During the last recession, some transfers into capital improvement funds were temporarily suspended; some other transfers - aside from revenue for local governments or transit agencies - could be reduced or eliminated. (Up to hundreds of millions of dollars)
* Authorize targeted "fund sweeps" - transfers of surplus revenue from special state funds into the General Revenue Fund, moves that both Republican and Democratic administrations have used many times in the past to maximize revenues. In FY10, such moves represented $283 million. New sweeps should target funds with significant excesses or with lower priorities than vital services facing outright cuts, not funds such as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Rental Housing Support Program Fund. ($283 million in FY10)
* Repeal the prohibition on putting Road Fund dollars toward appropriate uses by the Secretary of State's office and the Illinois State Police. The Road Fund's purposes include financing highway maintenance and construction, traffic control and safety, policing, administering driver's license and motor vehicle license laws, and other transportation programs. Most Road Fund revenue (about $3 billion in FY10) goes to the Department of Transportation. But prior to FY10, some of the funding was typically used for SOS and ISP appropriations. Resuming that practice could free-up GRF capacity for meeting other vital public needs. ($245 million in FY09)
* Authorize debt-restructuring bonds to reduce an enormous backlog of state bills. Long-overdue payments to schools, local governments and providers of critical health and human services total billions of dollars. Illinois must return to a responsible payment cycle. The interest rate on restructuring bonds would be well below the annual interest rate the state otherwise must pay under law regarding overdue bills. Lawmakers should settle on a reasonable restructuring plan, with an accurate total for the outstanding bills and a reasonable bond re-payment schedule. Funds were intended for this in the new income tax law, and they should be used for this purpose.
*Click Heahline for 'Housing Matters" or go to: http://www.housingmatters.net/
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