HUD AWARDS DALLAS $1.2 MILLION TO IMPROVE HOUSING AND SERVICES FOR EX-OFFENDERS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS
Grants provided by HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program

FORT WORTH - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the City of Dallas
$1,287,500 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. Nationally, a total of $8,880,000 was awarded to seven grantees in seven States.

"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."

The City of Dallas' Housing/Community Services Department will use its competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant of $1,287,500 to provide transitional housing support to 60 ex-offenders over the three year grant period. The Ex-Offender Housing and IHHP Planning Project will also involve supportive services provided
by the City of Dallas's Project Reconnect Program and by the Department of Justice's Second Chance Act to support clients on the path to permanent housing and self-sufficiency. In addition, the City will create an Integrated
HIV/AIDS Housing Plan (IHHP) through a comprehensive community planning effort that involves 20 local partners operating in the eight county Dallas Metropolitan Statistical Area. Contact: Jerry Killingsworth, Director, Dallas Housing/Community Services Dept., (214) 670-5988.

The City of Dallas 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 living with HIV/AIDS. HUD received 46 proposals under this competition. 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.

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.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on twitter @HUDnews, on facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.