Housing Opportunities for People with HIV/AIDS
People with HIV/AIDS face an array of barriers to obtaining and maintaining affordable, stable housing. Despite federal and state anti-discrimination laws, many people face illegal eviction from their homes when it is discovered that they have HIV/AIDS. Others lose their housing when, as a result of illness and lost wages, they are unable to pay their rent or mortgage.
A growing number of people with HIV/AIDS are already homeless when they become ill and — at an enormous cost to their health — are shuffled among acute care hospitals, medically unsafe shelters and the street. Without stable housing, people with HIV/AIDS have no access to care or the promising new therapies that can greatly improve the quality and duration of their lives.
- Sixty-five percent of people with HIV/AIDS cite stable housing as their greatest need next to health care.
- One-third to one-half of all people with AIDS are either homeless or in imminent danger of losing their homes.
- In 1992, the National Commission on AIDS estimated that 15 percent of homeless people were HIV-positive.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly one in five homeless people in selected populations was infected with HIV.
- People with HIV/AIDS historically have had difficulty in accessing federal housing programs.
To address AIDS-specific needs, Congress enacted the Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS program, or HOPWA, in 1990. HOPWA is the only federal housing program that provides comprehensive, community-based housing for people with HIV. Funding for HOPWA is approximately $258 million a year and provides services to 105 jurisdictions in 34 states.
HUD distributes 90 percent of HOPWA funding directly to cities and states with high AIDS caseloads through a formula grant. The remaining 10 percent is awarded on a competitive basis to projects of national significance.
Local Control and Flexibility
HOPWA gives those local communities that are hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic desperately needed resources and local control over the use of those resources to meet the housing needs of people with AIDS. Communities may use HOPWA funds to develop a broad range of housing and support services, including short-term supported housing, rental assistance for low-income people with HIV/AIDS, community residences or coordinated home care services.
Cost Effective
Cities and states control the use and administration of HOPWA funds. For funds that go to housing activities, administrative costs are capped at 3 percent for formula grantees administering the funds and 7 percent for the community-based project sponsors providing the housing assistance.
Increased Funding for HOPWA Is Desperately Needed
States and localities across the nation face severe funding shortfalls that reduce their ability to address the growing housing needs of their citizens with HIV/AIDS.
As the number of HIV/AIDS cases continues to grow, the number of jurisdictions eligible for HOPWA funding grows as well. Each year, new jurisdictions become eligible for formula grants based on caseload increases. If HOPWA funding remains level, jurisdictions actually see cuts in their funding despite increasing need because newly eligible jurisdictions must be accommodated.
Other Programs Cannot Replace HOPWA
Congress created the HOPWA program in 1990 because other programs failed to respond to the AIDS-related housing needs arising in cities and states across the country. Other programs also failed to provide the specific resources and flexibility that enable jurisdictions to address the housing crisis that the AIDS epidemic poses locally.