Governor Pritzker issued an Executive Order (EO) ordering Illinois residents to “stay at home” starting Saturday, March 21 at 5:00 pm through at least April 7 in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Section nine of the EO indicates that individuals may leave their residence for the purposes of providing services related to “essential infrastructure” which includes housing construction, building management and maintenance (see Page four of the EO for more detail). Section two provides an order that all state, county and local law enforcement officers cease enforcement of orders of eviction for residential premises for the period of the Disaster Proclamation.
In Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax blog post summarizing the Executive Order, he noted the Governor’s comment on evictions: To those that we are asking to stay home, we’re ordering municipalities across the state to halt all evictions. We need our local leaders to help ensure our families do not lose their homes. I’m also directing additional resources to organizations across the state to serve those experiencing homelessness, for our students, your school district will continue to provide you with meals, and we will back them up in this.
Yesterday Illinois Housing Council (IHC) sent a letter to Senators Durbin and Duckworth outlining recommendations for federal action to ensure the long-term stability of Illinois’ affordable housing stock, including recommendations from our partners at the ACTION Campaign. We encourage our members to also share this message with our federal elected officials.
IHC is also in active discussions with leadership from IHDA and the City of Chicago Department of Housing to determine how we can work collaboratively with our public partners to develop policy responses to ensure the well-being of tenants living in affordable housing and the financial stability of our members’ properties. We will keep everyone informed of those discussions as they progress.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns in the meantime. We hope you are all staying safe and healthy at this uncertain time.
