Detroit AIDS
agency will close December 1

Decreases in funding have led officials at Wellness House, one of Detroit's oldest AIDS service organizations, to announce that the agency will shut down on December 1, the Detroit Free Press reports. Wellness House provided housing for 24 HIV-positive people and offered boxes of food or food vouchers to scores of other people affected by HIV in the region. At its peak, Wellness House offered assistance to more than 3,000 people each month.

Wellness House officials say the last shipment of food was released last week and that the HIV-positive people living in its residential facility will have to move out by November 30.

The agency operated on a $700,000 annual budget, much of which came from federal AIDS grants issued to the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion. But the department recently accused Wellness House leaders of financial mismanagement and withdrew more than $100,000 in funding. The city also refused to give the agency nearly $200,000 for its food distribution program. (Advocate.com)