How many subsidized housing units are available in Illinois?
Data updated August 27, 2024
About 230,638 subsidized housing units in Illinois in 2023. Approximately 12% of these were unoccupied and available to rent. Federally subsidized rental housing began with 1937’s US Housing Act, which created the United States Housing Authority and provided financial assistance to state and local governments for housing low-income people. Since then, the government has provided housing assistance to low-income renters through programs overseen by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Showing data for
In 2023
231K
subsidized housing units existed in Illinois
In 2023
27.7K
subsidized housing units were unoccupied and available to rent
In 2023
12%
of all subsidized housing units were available to rent
There were about 202,609 occupied subsidized housing units in 2022, and around 1,663,542 occupied rental units — subsidized and unsubsidized — in Illinois. That means 12.18% of all occupied rentals in Illinois were provided by housing assistance programs. In 2022, 12% of all subsidized units in Illinois were vacant, compared with 4.7% of all rental properties.
The number of available subsidized housing units varies throughout Illinois. Administered by local public housing authorities (PHAs), availability has been and continues to be shaped by local policy and factors such as geography (urban, rural, or suburban areas), need, and more.
In 2023, Alexander County had the most subsidized housing units per 10K people.
Subsidized housing can take different forms — from high-rise buildings to garden-style apartments to single-family dwellings, duplexes, and more — but all are accessed via eight different housing assistance programs under HUD. These are classified as either public housing; tenant-based programs; or privately-owned, project-based housing.
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Tenant-based programs — known today as the Housing Choice Voucher program — are the most common form of housing assistance, providing 2,752,351 housing units in 2023. Housing vouchers allow recipients to choose their own housing in the private market, provided it meets program requirements. These tenant-based programs account for 53.7% of the subsidized housing stock.
Tenant assistance was the most common type of housing program in 2023.
Privately-owned, project-based programs provide subsidized housing in larger, multifamily housing developments through agreements between landlords and HUD, and account for 31.74% of all subsidized housing in Illinois.
The remainder of subsidized units — 17.82% of the total — are public housing, where units are built and managed by local housing agencies.
