Will County Closes Out $16.2 Million Federal Rental Assistance Program, Transitions to Local Funding

Will County Finance Committee Meeting | March 3, 2026

Article Summary: Will County has officially closed out its massive federal Emergency Rental Assistance program after distributing millions to keep nearly 2,000 households housed during recent crises. Moving forward, the county is utilizing local cannabis tax revenue to fund a scaled-down housing stabilization effort while facing skyrocketing requests for local mental health grants.

Will County Grants Update Key Points:

• The federal ERA2 program awarded over $15 million in direct assistance to 1,991 unique Will County households to prevent eviction.

• Administrative costs for the federal program totaled $1.1 million, which staff defended as well below the industry standard maximums.

• The Community Mental Health Board received $9.2 million in grant requests from 62 applicants for 2026, far exceeding the planned $4 million appropriation.

• A new $360,000 Home Repair and Accessibility Program (HRAP) grant will launch in Spring 2026 to provide critical repairs for at least six low-income homes.

The Will County Board Finance Committee on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, received a comprehensive update on the county’s sprawling grant initiatives, highlighting the end of a massive federal lifeline and the transition to hyper-local funding sources.

Samantha Marcum presented the grants update, formally announcing the closeout of the federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) program. The county received a $16,200,968.90 federal award, ultimately distributing 15,087,431.56 to 1,991 households. The program primarily covered rental arrears (14.3 million), future rent, utility arrears, and other housing costs to prevent homelessness.

According to packet data, the funds highly correlated with R3 (Restore, Reinvest, and Renew) zones, with predominant assistance flowing into Joliet (606 households) and Bolingbrook (221 households). Demographically, 66% of the households served were Black/African American and 69% were female-led.

Vice Chair Julie Berkowicz questioned the program’s administrative costs, which totaled $1,113,537.34.

“With the Emergency ERA2 grant program, you know we’ve got administrative costs of over a million dollars. Is there a way to bring that down? Why are the costs so high?” Berkowicz asked. “That came out to be about $600-so dollars per grant.”

Marcum defended the figure, noting that it was well below the federal government’s 10% administrative cap limit. She explained that the bulk of those costs—nearly $730,000—were incurred early in the program by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), which originally managed it.

“We gave them all the information and all the money and said, ‘Hey, do it, and then just tell us what you did.’ And so they expended over $700,000 of our administrative costs themselves in operating that program for a couple years,” Marcum explained.

Once the county realized it could be more efficient, it brought the program in-house and partnered locally with the Will County Center for Community Concerns. That local agency operated the daily check distributions for only $90,000, drastically reducing overhead.

While the federal program is dead, the county is keeping a smaller “Housing Stabilization Program” alive using the Cannabis Retailer’s Occupation Tax. This scaled-down version serves residents earning under 30% of the Area Median Income with balances under $10,000.

Marcum also updated the committee on the Community Mental Health Board’s 2026 grant cycle, which just closed to applications. The need in the county appears to be skyrocketing. Sixty-two applications were submitted requesting a total of $9,269,834.05. This represents a massive hurdle, as the county only planned to appropriate $4 million for the awards.

Additionally, Marcum announced the upcoming launch of the Home Repair and Accessibility Program (HRAP). Will County secured a $360,000 grant through IHDA to restore services similar to the discontinued “Safe at Home” program. The funds will target very low-income households for health and safety interventions. The county plans to launch the repairs in Spring 2026, aiming to rehab a minimum of six homes—one receiving a full roof rehabilitation and five receiving accessibility upgrades.