On December 12, 2005 HUD Deputy Secretary Roy Bernardi was joined by Rep. José E. Serrano and Ms. Lorraine Montenegro, Executive Director of United Bronx Parents, Inc. and other community leaders to announce that United Bronx Parents was awarded a grant of $1,338,999 to assist persons living with HIV/AIDS. The funding is part of HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program which provides housing assistance and related services to help provide stable home environments for low-income persons managing complex drug therapies and potential side effects from their treatments for AIDS

"I'm very happy that HUD's Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS program will be supporting the innovative work being carried out by United Bronx Parents," Serrano said. "People living with HIV/AIDS deserve all the support our communities and government can give them, so that they are able to live a full and rich lives. This grant will help make that support a reality for many people with HIV/AIDS in the Bronx."

"The opportunity and the ability to provide a well-thought-out, culturally sensitive program to men and women who are battling a plethora of social issues is my daily mantra," said Montenegro. "There ain't nothing you can't do - United Bronx Parents is a living example of this."

United Bronx Parents will use its HOPWA renewal grant of $1.3 million to continue its operations at Casita Esperanza (The Little House of Hope), which provides transitional housing for homeless, substance using men and women living with HIV. Casita Esperanza is the only program of its kind in the country that uses the harm reduction philosophy to help active substance using "seropositive" individuals to reduce and stop drug use while providing intensive independence living skills and recovery readiness interventions in order to prepare clients to move into independent living.

The award is part of a nationwide announcement made earlier by the Department in which 16 programs across the country were awarded a total of $18.7 million. The local programs awarded funding nationwide will help 545 households to find transitional supportive housing for the next three years and will seek to move these families into more permanent arrangements with greater self-sufficiency. In addition to the $18.7 million awarded nationwide, these programs will stimulate another $23.5 million from other public and private sources so they can further assist their clients.

Ninety percent of HOPWA funds are distributed by formula to cities and states based on the number of AIDS cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HUD's formula grants are managed by 121 local and state jurisdictions, which coordinate AIDS housing efforts with other HUD and community resources. This year, HUD is making available a total of $282 million in HOPWA funds to help communities provide housing for this special needs population.

Content Archived: March 07, 2011