Illinois is at risk of losing critical federal housing resources that keep thousands of Illinoisans in stable homes, affecting not only these individuals and families but also every community in the state. Recent budget and staff reduction proposals from the Trump administration would gut the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by slashing funding for rental assistance, homelessness prevention, home ownership programs and neighborhood development, and terminating half of all HUD employees.
It will become harder — not easier — for people to find and afford a place to live.
Programs at risk include:
- Homelessness prevention and emergency housing assistance.
- Rental assistance, especially for families with young children, seniors and people with disabilities. This includes Housing Choice Vouchers, Project-Based Section 8 and public housing funding, which help 421,500 Illinoisans (221,000 households) afford a safe place to live and also helps support the private market.
- First-time home buyer and housing counseling programs that provide unbiased, expert guidance to help people buy homes and prevent foreclosures.
- Health and safety in homes, including funding for the removal of lead paint and contaminated water from homes.
- Fair housing education and protections, which ensure residents learn about their housing rights and fair housing laws are enforced.
- Community revitalization and development funding for projects that keep neighborhoods strong, including infrastructure priorities from street resurfacing to sewer repairs.
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Right now, four in 10 low-income Illinoisans are experiencing homelessness or pay over half their income for rent. Most who qualify for federal rental assistance don’t receive it due to underfunding; waiting lists are years long, if open at all. These proposed cuts will make it even worse. More families will be evicted. More seniors and people with disabilities will face homelessness. More working families will struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Gutting HUD would also hurt landlords, builders, mortgage lenders and local businesses that rely on housing stability.
There are bipartisan solutions to increase the supply of housing for all income levels, especially those struggling the most. Now is not the time to hamstring the federal agency we need to help us deal with rising rents and to expand the supply of housing. Illinois residents and our elected officials must stand up for HUD and tell Congress to reject HUD cuts and staff terminations.
Sharon Legenza, executive director, Housing Action Illinois
COPA can’t succeed without officer support
Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, has resigned. This comes as a significant relief to Chicago police officers and their union, and it should also come as a relief to Chicagoans. Ms. Kersten’s tenure was turbulent, starting with the recommendation that slain Chicago Police Officer Ella French be suspended for her role in the wrongful raid at the home of social worker Anjanette Young. The outrage was because French was dead when this recommendation was made; she was murdered in the line of duty in 2021, and her name should have never been brought up in the manner that it was.
Kersten’s policies, anti-police rhetoric, written communications and blatant anti-police agenda when speaking with media was nothing more than feathering her nest to look like a “reformer” keeping the police in check. Her staff didn’t support her. Her interview with sports personality Stephen A. Smith demonstrated her desire to seek the limelight.
Kersten did a lot of damage to COPA and the Chicago Police Department. The need for new outside leadership is apparent. Chicago should move forward with an outside leader to oversee COPA and redesign the office so that it has the complete confidence and support of Chicagoans, COPA employees, rank-and-file police and the union. Without this, they’re setting the next director up for failure.
It is time COPA followed state law on investigating police-involved shootings, without seeking carve-outs. It’s the only way to instill public confidence.
Strict enforcement starts with trained, state-certified criminal investigators who are police officers or retired detectives and who are well-versed in violent crime investigations, including shootings, homicides and other violent crimes. Seek out the best investigators with the best skills to conduct legitimate criminal investigations on alleged violations of police department policy and state laws, and then deliver findings through the proper channels. The only way the rank and file will have confidence in any future investigations by COPA is if you have the right people in the right place with the right qualifications.
Police officers, including Chicago police, want investigations to be overseen professionally and have officers’ rights protected. No police officer wants to work with a bad cop. The only way to move forward is to have a legitimate Civilian Office of Police Accountability,. Anything less is just politics.
Tom Weitzel, retired police chief, Riverside Police Department
Trump’s ‘farce of a presidency’
Enough is enough. According to an opinion piece in “Scientific American,” one of Donald Trump’s February executive orders includes bringing supervision and control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the president.
Trump wouldn’t know an isotope from an isobar, which he has already demonstrated during Hurricane Dorian. He’s denuded the Department of Veterans Affairs, crippled the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is trying to strip funding from the National Institutes of Health and treated tariffs like a toddler playing with a light switch.
His foreign policies insult our allies, placate our enemies and point the world to three-country dominance. Trump’s an incompetent boob. When is Congress going to stand up to this farce of a presidency?
Jim Arneberg, Hoffman Estates