HUD AWARDS $930 THOUSAND TO FRANNIE PEABODY CENTER IN PORTLAND TO IMPROVE HOUSING AND SERVICES FOR THOSE LIVING WITH AIDS
Grants provided by HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program

BOSTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $930,909 to the Frannie Peabody Center in Portland, Maine as part of a national effort to offer permanent and transitional housing and support services to more than 200 households with families and individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Provided through HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program, these projects will also develop new cross program
approaches in HIV care by creating an Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan in their communities.

"These resources will allow public agencies, nonprofits and housing authorities to forge new partnerships so that together, we can deliver comprehensive housing solutions and services for low-income families dealing with HIV," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said. "These communities will be innovating to more effectively and efficiently assist vulnerable households with HIV and serve as models for others to improve health outcomes and reduce risks of homelessness."

HUD's grant funding will support the Frannie Peabody Center for their Maine Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan. The Frannie Peabody Center will partner with four local Public Housing Authorities to move eligible PLWHAs from HOPWA Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) to Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and promote stable housing and
health outcomes by providing 44 individuals with housing support and 26 with supportive services to assist clients' in these transitions. As part of a state-wide collaboration, the project will develop a community model for an Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan through a collaborative planning process with the city and state Continuums of Care as well
as the Bangor, Portland, Sanford, and the Maine State Housing Authorities. For more information contact: Ms. Pattie Capouch, Executive Director, Frannie Peabody Center, 30 Danforth Street, Suite 311, Portland, ME 0410; Phone: (207) 774-6877 or by email (pcapouch@peabodycenter.org).

In collaboration with other parties, this group will offer supportive housing over the next three years to 208 households. Grants funded under this initiative advance HUD's implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) (http://aids.gov/federal-resources/policies/national-hiv-aids-strategy/) and will demonstrate models for a
next generation of improved coordination of housing and care for a vulnerable population. This better integration of housing support will also help achieve the Obama Administration's Opening Doors Strategy (http://www.usich.gov/PDF/OpeningDoors_2010_FSPPreventEndHomeless.pdf) to prevent and end homelessness.

The project was selected through a national HOPWA competition to identify Special Projects of National Significance that will help advance understanding and improve the delivery of housing and care for persons with HIV. HUD
received 46 proposals under this competition. The projects will provide housing assistance to eligible persons in their communities during the next three years. Planning efforts will also concurrently examine new approaches for comprehensively integrating local services and in coordinating and streamlining where possible the delivery of those services in their community.

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