Illinois Affordable Housing tax credit expands housing opportunity across Illinois
Illinois faces a growing affordable housing shortage that is impacting families, seniors, workers, and communities across the state. Rising housing costs, limited inventory, and increasing development expenses have made it harder for many Illinois residents to find housing they can afford near jobs, schools, transportation, and healthcare. Addressing that challenge will require a wide range of solutions, but one of the state’s most effective and proven tools is already making a meaningful difference: the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit (IAHTC).
The program encourages donations of land, buildings, and financial resources to support affordable housing development throughout Illinois. In return, donors receive a state tax credit that helps incentivize private investment in affordable housing developments. For nonprofit developers like Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH), IAHTC has become an especially important resource for creating affordable homes in high-opportunity communities where rising land values can otherwise make development financially impossible.
The impact of the program can already be seen throughout the northern suburbs. CPAH recently used IAHTC to help secure a 69-acre land donation in Beach Park that will support the development of 40 affordable senior cottages, while leaving substantial land available for future phases of housing development. The organization also leveraged the program to support a $1.6 million donation in Wilmette that created 15 permanently affordable Community Land Trust homes designed to preserve affordability for future generations of homeowners.
In Libertyville, IAHTC supported a 34-unit affordable senior housing development that helped revitalize a stagnant commercial corridor, meet the Village’s comprehensive plan goals, and allows older adults to remain in the community they know and love. Similar projects throughout the northern suburbs have demonstrated how the program can help communities expand housing options while maintaining local character and strengthening long-term economic stability.
Looking ahead, CPAH anticipates using IAHTC resources to advance additional affordable housing initiatives, including launching a Community Land Trust program in Northbrook and Highwood, supporting donated land for a senior cottage development in Lake Forest, and collaborating with students at Evanston Township High School to help build affordable housing while exposing students to construction trades and community development work.
These projects demonstrate the flexibility and long-term value of the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit. The program supports a wide range of housing solutions, including affordable rental housing, affordable homeownership opportunities, senior housing, and Community Land Trusts that preserve affordability permanently.
Importantly, IAHTC helps unlock opportunities that otherwise may never happen. In many cases, the tax credit provides the incentive necessary for landowners to donate land or make charitable contributions that directly support affordable housing development. That partnership between the private sector, nonprofit developers, and the state creates opportunities to leverage private investment for public benefit while helping communities address housing shortages in thoughtful and locally responsive ways.
As Illinois works to confront its housing challenges, lawmakers in Springfield should preserve the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit before it expires later this year and expand it to support even more housing opportunities. The program has already proven to be an efficient, flexible, and successful tool for helping communities create affordable housing while leveraging private-sector partnerships. At a time when affordability challenges continue to grow across Illinois, the state should strengthen programs like IAHTC that are already delivering measurable results for families, seniors, workers, and communities statewide.
• Rob Anthony is president of Community Partners for Affordable Housing in Libertyville, which provides affordable housing development, counseling, rental assistance, rehabilitation and homeownership programs across Lake County and Chicago’s northern suburbs.