Department of Housing – BGA Policy 2027 Budget Snapshot

The Department of Housing’s size and mandate have changed multiple times since 2011, with the office at times combined into DPD and at other times a standalone department. Because of the changing size and function of the department, 2011-2025 annual average rates are not provided in this snapshot.

• DoH’s budget for affordable housing programming is up dramatically in the 2027 proposal, with a new $18 million corporate fund appropriation for low income housing and an increase in the affordable housing density program from $531,000 to $9 million.
  
• The department saw a large reduction in funds held in reserve balance, down -$15.4 million (15%) from 2026. The rehabilitation grants and loans appropriation declined -$8.4 million (-30.9%), and pass-through spending to delegate agencies saw a -$6 million (-25.4%) reduction.
  
• Grant funds held in reserve balance make up just over half of DoH’s 2027 proposed budget, including 99.6% of DoH’s appropriations from the COVID-19 grant fund and 74.8% of federal grant fund appropriations. 

Rahm Emanuel replaced the then-Department of Housing with the Department of Planning and Development in the 2014 budget, at a lower rate of funding than its predecessor. (Housing had $191.7 million in appropriations in the 2013 budget; DPD began its existence in the 2014 budget with $153.8 million.)

The Department of Housing returned to city budgets in the 2019 budget and resumed operating as an independent office under Lori Lightfoot’s administration, with $148.4 million in appropriations in 2019 and $198.9 million the following year.

Housing then saw significant budget increases in the pandemic-era budgets, more than doubling its appropriation in 2022, predominantly from Emergency Rental Assistance funding. The department’s total appropriations have declined since, with this year’s -1.3% reduction continuing the trend, though far less dramatically than in the previous several years. 

Estimated Fringe Costs

City budgets do not break out “fringe” pension and benefit costs for non-grant positions by department, instead grouping them together as citywide expenses under the Finance General section of the budget. To better reflect the real cost of service for departmental operations, BGA Policy has included an estimate of pension and benefit costs for the years 2018-2026, using Department of Finance fringe memos from each relevant year. An estimated fringe cost for the 2027 proposal uses the average annual rate of increase for each of the inputs into the fringe formulae. 

Based on the city’s fringe formulae, the DoH fringe cost for nongrant employees averaged 0.9% from 2018-2026, compared to a citywide average of 26.8%. (Departments with a larger proportion of their budget dedicated to non-employee costs or with a larger proportion of grant-funded employees tend to have lower fringe costs, as their pension/benefit costs are either already factored into grant funds or are a smaller percentage of the overall departmental budget.)

Local Fund Actual Spend

Because so much of its budget is grant-based, local fund actual spend provides only a partial picture of DoH spending. With that caveat, over the past four complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, DoH spent on average 84.7% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend.

Budgeted Positions & Vacancies

Since its reestablishment, staffing levels at DoH have followed a mostly upwards trend, increasing at an average annual rate of 5.6% from 2019-2026, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.3% for the same years. The current proposal would keep the same budgeted headcount as the previous year. 

From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, DoH averaged a 14.5% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

10 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data): 

Overall DoH headcount remains unchanged from the previous year in the 2027 proposal, with a few minor title shifts and one project manager position replaced by a policy analyst position. 

DoH is 22.4% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, up considerably from the previous year’s 8%. The department’s appropriations from the city’s general-purpose corporate fund more than doubled from the previous year’s budget, and appropriations from the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund leapt from $1 million to $11.8 million as well. 

Largest Appropriations

Grant funds held in reserve balance make up just over half of DoH’s 2027 proposed budget, including 99.6% of DoH’s appropriations from the COVID-19 grant fund and 74.8% of federal grant fund appropriations. 

Rehabilitation grants and loans make up the department’s largest non-reserve appropriation category in the 2027 proposal, as in the previous year’s budget. A newly added appropriation for low income housing is the next-largest, at $18 million.

Because so much of its budget is grant-based, local fund actual spend provides only a partial picture of DoH spending. With that caveat, in 2025, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, DoH spent 85.6% of its locally-funded budget. 

Change from Previous Year

DoH’s budget for affordable housing programming is up dramatically in the 2027 proposal, with a new $18 million corporate fund appropriation for low income housing and an increase in the affordable housing density program from $531,000 to $9 million. 

Outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation is also up significantly, increasing from less than a million dollars to $2.5 million. 

The department saw a large reduction in funds held in reserve balance, down -$15.4 million (15%) from 2026. The rehabilitation grants and loans appropriation declined -$8.4 million (-30.9%), and pass-through spending to delegate agencies saw a -$6 million (-25.4%) reduction.