Struggling to pay your rent? Need to get paid for rent you are owed?
There’s a solution for those issues again after a two-month hiatus: Illinois’ court-based rental assistance program reopened July 31.
While the program saw a third of its funds wiped away for the 2026 fiscal year that began July 1, $50 million in state funds are available. The reduction came as rents in Chicago keep rising and after the state grappled with serious fiscal challenges when balancing its budget this year, issues exacerbated by a federal government focused on axing spending. State lawmakers cut spending in various areas beyond housing as well.
The state rental assistance program was previously funded by federal aid distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on helping tenants experiencing COVID-19-related hardships and at risk of eviction. The program has helped tens of thousands of renters and landlords since its inception in 2020.
In the 2025 fiscal year, the inaugural year as a state-funded effort, more than $63 million in aid was distributed to help more than 7,680 families facing eviction. About 39% of aided households were extremely low income, earning less than $36,000 a year for a household of four, the state said.
The need was greater than the Illinois Housing Development Authority, the group in charge of administering the funds, expected, the agency said, which is why the program closed about three weeks before the end of the last fiscal year.
Eviction filings in Cook County have hovered around pre-pandemic levels since 2022.
Here’s what you need to know about the state’s court-based rental assistance program:
Who can apply for assistance?
Eligible tenants have to make 80% or less of the area median income and do not have to be facing a COVID-19-related hardship. For a household of four in Chicago, the income eligibility threshold is $95,900 or less, according to the Chicago Department of Housing’s area median income calculations. For this year’s round of assistance, the state said tenants will be ineligible if they have received aid in the last 18 months.
Renters do not have to prove their citizenship status and must have an active eviction case because of nonpayment of rent to qualify. Housing providers are not allowed to evict tenants during the grant’s coverage period for nonpayment of rent.
For tenants whose landlords are unwilling to participate in the program, the state offers up to two months of future rent payments to help them find a new place to live. Renters in Chicago and Cook County maintain the right to stay in their homes if they pay their debts in full to their landlord at any time before an official eviction order is filed.
How much money can tenants and landlords receive and for what purpose?
Tenants and landlords can receive up to $10,000 in rental assistance per eviction case. This is a reduction from last year’s $15,000 ceiling when the program was better funded.
Kristin Faust, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, previously told the Tribune this decision was made based on data from last year’s program and conversations with legal aid, tenants and landlords. The average grant amount last year was about $8,300, or eight months of rent. The authority estimates about 6,500 households will be able to receive assistance this year.
The money can go toward paying past-due rent, up to $700 in court costs — up from $500 last year — and up to two months of future rent.
How can tenants and landlords apply for court-based rental assistance?
To apply for the Illinois Court-Based Rental Assistance Program, go to https://www.illinoishousinghelp.org/cbrap.
What other resources are available?
The court-based rental assistance program is just one aspect of the state’s eviction diversion program, known formally as the Early Resolution Program. Tenants and small landlords can also receive legal aid to help settle eviction cases before they go to trial. Those resources can be found at https://www.cookcountylegalaid.org/ or by calling 855-956-5763.
The central hub for eviction help in the state is a website called Eviction Help Illinois: https://evictionhelpillinois.org/.
There are also separate rental assistance dollars allocated to the Illinois Department of Human Services, with $89.5 million total (including the $50 million court-based program) earmarked to support those efforts this fiscal year, the state said. More information for IDHS housing support programs can be found here: https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=29723.
A three-year Chicago pilot program aiding low-income households with legal representation was recently extended through the end of the year thanks to carryover funds from its initial grant (federal stimulus money from the pandemic era) and city dollars, said Michelle Gilbert, legal and policy director for Law Center for Better Housing, one of the organizations involved in the program. The city will need to appropriate more money in next year’s budget (starting Jan. 1, 2026) for the program to continue.
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