By Fatima Gabir, Times of San Diego
A rental assistance policy that offered a prioritization system to accommodate people at high risk of becoming homeless has been eliminated by the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS program.
The HOPWA program provides housing and support for individuals living with HIV and AIDS, and initially relied on a two-tier system to assess eligibility and prioritize applicants. “Tier A” covered clients with medically verified HIV or AIDS, while “Tier B” allowed prioritization based on housing insecurity and vulnerability.
This story came in part from notes taken by Lyric Pastora, a San Diego Documenter, at a Joint City/County HIV Housing Committee. The Documenters program trains and pays community members to document what happens at public meetings. Read the note here.
As of March 1, their capacity was 127 active clients and a waitlist of more than 5,100 people, representatives told the Joint City/County HIV Housing Committee last month.
The group clarified that no new clients were being pulled from the waitlist.
Providers like Being Alive, Stepping Stone, Townspeople, and Mama’s Kitchen shared updates with the county on their limited capacity and active referrals. Emergency housing options and support services are still available through partner organizations, but space remains scarce.
Staff members from housing agencies said during a meeting that the system cannot prioritize Tier B because it cannot determine when someone is pulled from the waitlist based on homelessness risk, and the verification process requires too much front-end labor for already stretched providers.
Tier A will now be the sole criteria for HOPWA services. Applicants must be HIV-positive or have been diagnosed with AIDS to be considered for housing support.
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News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.