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The Illinois Human Rights Act protects against housing discrimination. As of January 1, 2023, the Illinois Human Rights Act 775 ILCS 5/1-103 (O-5) has been amended to include source of income as a protected class. “Source of income” is defined as the lawful manner by which an individual supports himself/herself and his/her dependents. For renters, this means that any legal and verifiable source of income or housing assistance payment used to pay for rent must be treated the same by landlords as any other type of employment-based income.
The law makes housing more accessible to renters by prohibiting landlords from refusing to rent to qualified renters because of the source of their legal income. This is important because housing choice voucher holders and other renters with non-wage income are especially susceptible to such discrimination.
Factsheets
Know Your Rights
The Illinois Coalition for Fair Housing has created a self-advocacy toolkit to help Illinois residents understand their fair housing rights. The focus of this guide is on “Source of Income” protections and it is accompanied by sample letter templates to help tenants assert their rights under this Illinois law.
Self-Advocacy Sample Letters
General Sample Letter: Illinois residents in any county can use this letter to alert property managers or owners of the Source of Income discrimination they have experienced. This letter references the SOI Landlord Factsheet.
Minimum Income Sample Letter: Illinois residents using rental subsidies to pay for rent may use this letter if required to prove to have an income multiple times the total rent to apply for a rental unit. This letter references guidance from the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the Cook County Commission on Human Rights, and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.
New Blog Post on SOI
History of the HB 2775 SOI Campaign
"For people with disabilities in particular, this law will provide a pathway to living independently in the community.”
- Nabi Yisreael
Access Living - Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing
Prior to the passage of HB 2775, the State of Illinois did not offer protections against discrimination based on legal sources of income such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), veterans benefits, child support, Housing Choice Vouchers, or any other type of non-wage income.
This meant that despite having enough funds to pay for their housing, families, and individuals could legally be turned away from available housing or threatened with eviction simply because a landlord or housing provider refused to accept their form of payment.
During the COVID pandemic, many residents were struggling with rent or mortgage payments due to the economic instability that was heightened during this time. Advocates, social service agencies, and other professionals witnessed the increase of households at risk of losing their housing and they decided to form the Illinois Coalition for Fair Housing.
The Coalition began working on re-energizing a decades-old campaign to pass a bill to protect Illinois residents from housing discrimination based on source of income. Illinois Senator Ram Villivalam and Illinois Representative La Shawn K. Ford served as lead sponsors of HB 2775.
After intense advocacy efforts, the Coalition received additional support from co-sponsoring legislators. Many directly impacted individuals, community organizations, municipalities, and businesses also took action to support this bill by submitting witness slips and providing statements.
On May 24, 2022, Governor JB Pritzker signed HB 2775 into law making it a civil rights violation to engage in discriminatory actions in real estate transactions because of someone's source of income (Effective January 1, 2023). Housing providers may continue to use business criteria to screen tenants but cannot turn renters away because of their legal form of payment.
The passage of HB 2775 is historic and significant. Illinois is now the 20th state to offer source of income protections. This law aligns with existing source of income protections in Cook County and City of Chicago.
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The Coalition
The Illinois Coalition for Fair Housing is a growing group of impacted community members and advocates committed to equitable and just access to housing. Organizational members include:
Request a Training
The Illinois Coalition for Fair Housing is now offering training on basic fair housing rights with a detailed overview of the new source of income protections. If you would like to host a training, please click on the image below to access and complete the training request form.
