HUD AWARDS $8.8 MILLION TO IMPROVE HOUSING AND SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH AIDS
Grants provided by HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded nearly $9 million to projects in seven cities and states that will 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 following cities and organizations: (see project-by-project summaries below.)

In collaboration with other parties, these groups 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 (www.usich.gov/PDF/OpeningDoors_2010_FSPPreventEndHomeless.pdf) to prevent and end homelessness.

The seven projects were 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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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 @HUDgov, on facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.

HOPWA 2011 Competitive Grant Summaries

CALIFORNIA

The Los Angeles County Commission on HIV is awarded a 2011 HOPWA competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant in the amount of $1,375,000 to provide housing assistance and service coordination for persons with HIV never in care and for newly-diagnosed persons with HIV and their families in Los Angeles, CA who are homeless or have risks of homelessness under a Collaborative for Housing Integrated with Supportive Services (CHISS) project. The Alliance for Housing and Healing will master lease units of scattered-site rental housing to 50 households over the course of the 3-year grant period. CHISS will seek to streamline overlapping service delivery and develop braided funding and referral systems that support client transitions to stable arrangements in a model Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan.

For more information contact:
Glenda Pinney, Planning Manager, Los Angeles County Commission on HIV, 3530 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 1140,
Los Angeles, CA 90010 Phone: 213-639-6711
Email: gpinney@hiv.lacounty.gov

FLORIDA

River Region Human Services, Inc. (RRHS) is awarded a 2011 HOPWA competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant in the amount of $1,353,743 to provide tenant based rental assistance and supportive services for 40 households headed by homeless persons living with HIV/AIDS in the Jacksonville, FL metropolitan area. The Forging Useful Systems to Empower (FUSE) project will provide service coordination for clients through a RRHS partnership with Ability Housing of Northeast Florida, Inc., in providing housing assistance in coordination with rehabilitative services and health impact assessments. The project will develop a community model for an Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan for Northeast Florida by coordination of HOPWA, Ryan White, and other sources of funding for housing and services for persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

For more information contact:
Dr. Paul Yarish, Chief Information Officer, RRHS, 2055 Reyko Road Suite 101, Jacksonville, FL 32207
Phone: 904-899-6380
Email: pyarish@rrhs.org

MASSACHUSETTS

The Justice Resource Institute (JRI) in Boston, Massachusetts is awarded a 2011 HOPWA competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant in the amount of $1,223,377 for a regional JRI Health Youth Housing Initiative. This effort will provide scattered site tenant based housing rental assistance and supportive services to 20 homeless youth who are living with HIV in the Boston area in partnership with the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership and the Boston Medical Center SPARK Center. Collaborations will also involve local vocational training partners and Ticket to Work programs the effort will help connect clients with job opportunities and assist in developing a community model for an Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan with the Massachusetts HIV planning group and the Planning Council of Boston EMA.

For more information contact:
Susan Buoncuore, Director of Housing Services, JRI Health, 545 Boylston St. Suite 700, Boston, MA 02116;
Phone: 617-457-8142 x2424
Email: sbuoncuore@jri.org

MAINE

The Frannie Peabody Center in Portland, Maine is awarded a 2011 HOPWA competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant in the amount of $930,909 for their aine 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
Email: pcapouch@peabodycenter.org

NEW YORK

The Corporation for AIDS Research and Services, Inc. (CARES) is awarded a 2011 HOPWA competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant for $1,344,375 to provide permanent housing, linkages to critical supportive services, and comprehensive planning and coordination activities in the cities of Albany and Rochester. This Foundations for Living project will provide 60 clients with tenant-based rental assistance and assist an additional 15 clients with permanent housing placement actions to foster housing stability. An Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan will be established as a local model for a cross-program approach to the coordination, service delivery, and evaluation of the local HOPWA and Ryan White projects.

For more information contact:
Ms. Nancy Chiarella, Executive Director, CARES, Inc., 85 Watervliet Avenue, Albany, NY 12206
Phone: (518) 489-4130 x105
Email: nchiarella@caresny.org

OREGON

The City of Portland, Oregon, Portland Housing Bureau is awarded a 2011 HOPWA competitive Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) grant in the amount of $1,365,900 to provide housing assistance to approximately 60 households annually who are living with HIV/AIDS and are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness. The grant will support a Springboard to Stability, Self-Sufficiency and Health (S4H) program. Short-term rental assistance and supportive services will be provided through the Cascade AIDS Project and employment-related services will be provided through Work Systems, Inc, a Workforce Investment Board funded through the Department of Labor. This innovative model combines emergency and short-term housing assistance in a pooled continuum of eviction prevention, rapid re-housing and housing retention services. Results of the efforts will be compiled in a model Integrated HIV/AIDS Housing Plan.

For more information contact:
Eileen Roe, Portland Housing Bureau, 1120 SW Fifth Avenue, Room 1250, Portland, Oregon 97204,
Phone: (912)-525-3100
Email: Eileen.roe@portlandoregon.gov

TEXAS

The City of Dallas, Texas, Housing/Community Services Department, is awarded a 2011 HOPWA 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 commits to creating 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.

For more information contact:
Mr. Jerry Killingsworth, Director, City of Dallas Housing/Community Services Department1500 Marilla 4EN,
Dallas, Texas 75201-6300;
Phone: 214-670-5988
Email: j.killingsworth@dallascityhall.com