WASHINGTON D.C. October 18, 2021 -The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, T-HUD, a markup of the FY22 Budget proposes $450 Million for Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA) program, which is consistent with President Biden’s request. HOPWA, a program within HUD, is a supportive housing program that serves low-income and extremely low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS.
This proposal is a failure to the needs of low-income people living with HIV/AIDS. Due to the new HOPWA formula, this $450 million proposal will result in MAJOR financial losses for communities which include Atlanta, Georgia ($10 million loss) and Baltimore, Maryland ($1.5 million loss). Advocates are calling for an investment of $600 million into the HOPWA program to ensure that almost all grantees are flat-funded and to even remotely address the real need of thousands of low-income persons living with HIV. In the United States, an estimated 100,000 people with HIV/AIDS are experiencing homelessness, an estimated 400,000 people living with HIV/AIDS need housing assistance, and HOPWA serves about 55,000 households addressing only 14% of the current need.
This budget proposal demonstrates the committee’s lack of understanding that housing is a critical need for people living with HIV and that there is no path to ending the HIV epidemic in the United States without enhancing funding for HOPWA and other housing programs. Treating HIV is not simply about medicine, and data indicates that those who are in stable housing have more impact on their health outcomes and viral suppression rates than demographics, receipt of social services, drug and alcohol use, or mental health status. The Ryan White program reports a viral suppression rate of 88% for clients who are housed compared to only 72% for clients who lack housing. When people are virally suppressed, they cannot transmit HIV through sex. To END the HIV epidemic, we NEED to help all living with HIV/AIDS obtain viral suppression.
The proposal additionally reveals their lack of discernment to protect and support the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities. 69% of new HIV infections in 2018 were in Black and Latino communities with 56% of HOPWA participants in the black community, and 77% of all HIV diagnoses in the United States representing the LGBTQIA+ community. The United States’ history of lacking affordable housing opportunities and discrimination towards the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities directly impacts health outcomes.
Housing is the foundation. Housing is Healthcare.
The National AIDS Housing Coalition, and over 250 organizations throughout the country implore Congress to fund HOPWA at least at $600 million for FY22.
|