HUD Announces $41 Million HOPWA Funding Opportunity: Housing as an Intervention to Fight AIDS

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of HIV/AIDS Housing is pleased to announce the release of a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) through the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program. Through the “Housing as an Intervention to Fight AIDS” NOFO, HUD is making $41 million available to states, local governments, and non-profits for housing assistance and supportive services for low-income people living with HIV and their families, coordination and planning activities, and grants management and administration. Communities selected through the competitive NOFO process will implement new, innovative projects that elevate housing as an effective structural intervention and align with initiatives aimed at ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Read the HUD NOFO.

This NOFO represents the first opportunity for HUD to fund new HOPWA competitive grants in more than five years. The HOPWA program hopes this NOFO will allow HIV housing providers to make meaningful contributions towards ending the HIV epidemic efforts already underway in their communities by bringing in housing resources. Housing instability has been a major issue facing many people living with HIV since the beginning of the epidemic. Helping people living with HIV to achieve and maintain housing stability can be a powerful structural intervention in ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“We know safe, stable housing is critical for persons living with HIV to best manage their health,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “This funding will support communities in ensuring our neighbors are able to access housing alongside medical services. We cannot end the HIV/AIDS epidemic without support for housing.”

Projects funded through this HOPWA funding opportunity will achieve six required project objectives:

1.Implement and document housing and services models for low-income persons living with HIV and their families that are innovative and replicable in other similar localities or nationally;

2.Increase alignment with new or existing local initiatives or strategies to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by elevating housing as an effective structural intervention;

3.Improve coordination among local housing and service providers and use of available community resources;

4.Increase the amount of quality data collected and used for data-driven decision making with an emphasis on stable housing, positive health outcomes, and racial equity;

5.Assess and document replicable practices that ensure equitable access and culturally competent approaches to providing housing and services for subpopulations of persons living with HIV experiencing service gaps; and

6.Prioritize sustainable, effective, and equitable approaches to providing housing and services to persons living with HIV and their families that can be continued past the funded project’s period of performance.

HUD will publish a pre-application webcast by April 30, 2021, for anyone interested in submitting an application for this HOPWA funding opportunity. The webcast will cover the information in the NOFO. More information on the webcast will be provided through the HUD.gov HOPWA mailing list. To sign up for the mailing list, please visit the HUD.gov HOPWA mailing list subscription page.

Applications are due July 6, 2021.