MR #25.10 Stability Investment for Family Housing (SIFH) Guaranteed Income Round 3

02/28/2025

Summary:

Due to Public Act 103-0492, money received from the Stability Investment for Family Housing (SIFH) program will be considered exempt for food and cash programs and medical programs which utilize MAGI budgeting methodology.
This payment is considered non-exempt unearned income for AABD Medical and other non-MAGI Medical programs.
Eligibility for this program is not determined by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS).
Eligible applicants will receive a total cash payment not to exceed $6500 based on a lottery.
The payment is disbursed from IES by IDHS, issuances will begin 06/02/2025 to eligible participants.
A new IES Benefit Type has been created to handle the new payment type.
IES changes were made to allow direct deposit to allow cash one-time payment using the direct deposit method.
- The IL444-2501A/IL444-2501AS Notice of Direct Deposit is being updated with this manual release.
A new notice has been created IL444-5434/IL444-5434S Notice for Payment for the Stability Investment for Family Housing (SIFH) Program and will be sent to notify the household of the payment.

Where allowed by federal law, Public Act 103-0492 allows any financial assistance, cash transfers or gifts that are provided to a person through a guaranteed income program through one-time or recurring unconditional payments for the purposes of reducing poverty, promoting economic mobility, or increasing the financial stability of Illinois residents to be excluded from determining eligibility and the amount of public assistance.

Illinois Stability Investment for Family Housing Pilot- Round 3

The third round of the Illinois Stability Investment for Family Housing (SIFH) applications began 01/27/2025 and issuances of benefits will begin 06/02/2025. The pilot programs are conducted by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) through the University of Chicago's Inclusive Economy Lab and GiveDirectly.

NOTE: IDHS participants will be matched through an electronic file submitted to IES from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

SIFH Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Round 3 Application Eligibility Criteria

To participate applicants must meet all the following criteria at time of application:

receiving cash or food assistance benefits from IDHS; and
18 years of age or older; and
the parent/guardian of a student that is 17 years of age or younger that is enrolled in a public school or district in Chicago, East St. Louis District #189, or Harvey District #152; and
- If additional spots are available, applicants will be considered if they have any student enrolled in a public school in the following counties in Illinois: Cook, Kane, Lake, Peoria, St. Clair, Will, and Sangamon.
meet the McKinney Vento definitions of homelessness (including those living doubled up) through the school districts; and
- at least one student of the applicant must be enrolled in a program at school that is part of McKinney Vento (as of September 30th 2024, if outside of Chicago, and as of December 9th 2024, if in Chicago); or
- the family must be experiencing literal homelessness.
willing to participate in the SIFH program; and
not receiving a housing subsidy from local, city, state, or federal government; and
have not participated in a prior round of SIFH assistance.

Note: Eligibility for this program is not determined by IDHS.

Benefit Issuance and Availability

Eligible households will receive a total cash payment not to exceed $6500 per household with issuances beginning 06/02/2025. Eligible households will be issued SIFH benefits on their Illinois Link card or through direct deposit. Workers will be able to view applicants benefits in Benefit Issuance in Left Navigation in IES.

Link Card

The payment will be deposited in the same manner as a regular cash payment.

Direct Deposit

If the applicant chooses direct deposit as their benefit issuance type, there will be two transactions:

The first transaction is by paper check in the amount of $5.
- If the first transaction is successful, the remainder of benefits will be deposited into the applicant's financial institution selected at enrollment.
If the transaction is not successful, the customer will receive the remainder of the payment in paper check form.

IES

Updates were made to the Direct Deposit module in IES to allow households to sign up to receive one-time cash payment.

A new benefit type was created for the SIFH program payment:

SIFH
- The payment can be viewed on the Benefits Summary page in IES in the same manner as other issuances from IES.
From Left Navigation select Benefit Issuance, View Benefits, then Benefits Summary
- The Benefit Summary Inquiry page displays
Enter criteria in the Search Criteria and Effective Date Range sections.
- Click [Search]
Results populate in the Search Results section.
- Review the Search Results.
Select the letter R icon to navigate to the Benefit Details page and view additional details.
- Manual issuances in Scheduled status will display a Trash Can icon which allows the issuance to be cancelled. Workers with special permission can replace benefits in specific circumstances, such as reissuance of benefits after a void.

Correspondences

IL444-5434/IL444-5434S Notice for Payment for the Stability Investment for Family Housing (SIFH) Program will be sent to eligible participants.

IL444-2501A/IL444-2501AS Notice of Direct Deposit is being revised with this Manual Release.

Inquiries

Inquiries and/or issues accessing payments should be addressed by FCRC in the same manner as any other payment type.

If customer has questions concerning enrollment, the amount received, or program requirements, contact GiveDirectly: phone at 855-701-5222 or email at sifh3support@givedirectly.org.

NOTE: Eligibility for this program is not determined by IDHS.