Viewpoint:Affordable Housing Tax Credit Supporting Senior Housing and Community Development in Greater Peoria

EAST PEORIA -- Communities across Central Illinois are continuing to face growing demand for affordable senior and workforce housing as construction costs rise and financing gaps widen. In this guest column, Karlee Macer of Laborers’ Home Development Corporation explains how the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit has helped support affordable housing developments in communities including East Peoria and why she believes lawmakers should extend and expand the program to help more Illinois residents remain in the communities they call home.

Supporting the Extension and Expansion of the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit

Karlee Macer, Executive Director, Laborers’ Home Development Corporation

Illinois is facing a housing crisis defined not by a lack of need, but by a lack of resources to meet it.

Across the state, developers and local leaders are confronted with more affordable housing proposals than can be financed. Demand - especially for senior and workforce housing - far exceeds available funding. Strong, community-supported developments are routinely delayed or abandoned because the financing simply does not pencil out.

That is why the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit (IAHTC) has become one of the most important tools for building and preserving affordable housing in the state - and why it must be extended and expanded.

At Laborers’ Home Development, we see firsthand how essential this program is. At least half of our projects rely on the IAHTC to close critical financing gaps. Without it, many affordable housing developments would not move forward at all.

The need is especially urgent when it comes to senior housing. Communities across Illinois are asking how to help older residents remain close to the churches, grocery stores, healthcare providers, and support networks they have relied on for decades. In many communities, however, appropriate housing options simply do not exist.

In small and rural communities especially, the shortage of senior housing forces people to leave the towns they helped build because there is nowhere for them to live. That is not just a housing issue - it is a community issue.

Building affordable housing today often requires layering multiple financing sources together. Our organization has been working in Bloomington on a potential adaptive reuse development that, if approved, would convert a historic bank building into approximately 50 affordable apartments for seniors. The project depends on combining federal and state historic tax credits, federal housing tax credits, gap financing, and the IAHTC to be financially viable.

Without that full stack of resources, developments like this do not happen.

The IAHTC is also critical for workforce housing and broader community revitalization. In Watseka, 45 affordable workforce apartments are planned to be made possible through a combination of federal housing tax credits and the IAHTC on city-donated land. In East Peoria, a 60-unit retirement community demonstrates how affordable housing can foster resident connections and long-term stability in the heart of a community.

These developments are not isolated examples. For nearly 25 years, the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit has helped make affordable housing feasible in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the state. It is a proven financing tool that helps close funding gaps and move developments from concept to construction.

As the Illinois General Assembly considers how to address the state’s growing housing crisis, lawmakers should not overlook one of the most effective tools already available. Extending and expanding the IAHTC would allow Illinois to produce more affordable housing, preserve important community assets, and respond to rising demand from seniors and working families alike.

Housing is ultimately about stability, economic opportunity, and allowing people to remain in the communities they call home. The Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit works because it turns local vision into built reality. At a time when the need for housing continues to outpace available resources, Illinois should strengthen this program and expand its funding to meet the scale of the challenge.