Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said Monday he has accepted a task force’s recommendations to protect against reduced federal funding for a housing assistance program for people with AIDS and HIV.
Dickens announced his plan to create the task force in 2022, because of changes in the federal funding formula for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOWPA) program. Those changes threaten to cost the Atlanta program $8-10 million per year.
The task force made 11 recommendations to address the short-, mid- and long-term needs of the program, and the impact on services starting in fiscal year 2025.
In the next three months, the task force said the city should identify at least $1 million in funding for the program to make sure people living with HIV/AIDS don’t lose their housing, and establish a HOPWA Trust Fund.
“This is the most immediate and pressing need for the community,” according to recommendations the mayor’s office shared in an email. “These funds can be allocated through a variety of sources so long as we ensure that no one loses their housing due to the reduction in funding.”
Longer term, the city should determine how much money could be saved by moving from tenant-based rental assistance to providing resources to acquire and provide permanent housing through capital expenditures, according to the recommendations.
The mayor’s office said some HOPWA service providers have already started to make that transition.
Maryum Lewis, CEO of the social service organization Status: Home, was a task force member and said the group is working on a $28 million initiative to provide housing for more than 250 people.
“We look forward to working with the administration to ensure that these projects can continue, and charting a path toward an Atlanta where every person living with HIV/AIDS has a safe and affordable home,” she said in a statement.
The city administers the program across 29 counties. But the task force said other counties and local governments benefiting from HOPWA funds should take a greater hand in supporting the program and it should not be Atlanta’s sole responsibility.
Officials touted city efforts to revitalize the program, eliminating a backlog of HOPWA reimbursements and making sure the funds are properly allocated. The city’s management of the program was once so woeful that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development threatened to withdraw a $23 million HOPWA grant to the city, raising fears that hundreds of households could lose assistance.
The mayor has worked to turn around how the city was managing the program. In a statement, he credited Deborah Lonon, the City’s Department of Grants and Community Development, with “ensuring our HOPWA program is consistent and a reliable source of hope for those who need it most.”
In June, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s and the mayor’s office said the federal agency is funding housing assistance and supportive services to address housing needs for families. AID Atlanta received $2.5 million, and Positive Impact Health Centers received $2.5 million.
The task force included city staff, the council president Doug Shipman, the council member Jason Dozier, Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham, and AID Atlanta executive director Nicole Roebuck.
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