Formula for Federal Housing Funds for People Living With HIV/AIDS ‘Fundamentally Flawed,’ Editorial States

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's allocation formula for its Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS program is "fundamentally flawed," according to a New Orleans Times-Picayune editorial (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 4/8). The program reimburses local agencies for providing housing funding or services to people living with HIV/AIDS. The amount of funding is based only on an area's reported number of AIDS cases, not HIV cases. Ellen Lee, who runs the city's program, said that the number of AIDS cases is shrinking due to treatment, while the number of HIV-positive people continues to grow. New Orleans will receive almost $2.2 million from the program this year, down 16% from last year's $2.6 million allocation. However, local officials this year have not yet received authorization to spend money for the program because the measure approving the federal money passed only last month (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/8). The editorial continues, "Funding for a program as important as this one should have come sooner. And the formulas used for that funding should accurately reflect the number of people in need." The editorial concludes that HUD officials should revise their funding formulas to include HIV-positive people because "[s]erving more people with less money just isn't possible" (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 4/8).