AIDS housing
formula hurts Memphis HIVers

Because the funding formula for the federal Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS program allocates money based on the number of a region's cumulative AIDS cases, cities with newer HIV epidemics, like Memphis, Tenn., aren't receiving enough funds, reports the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

A report by the Government Accountability Office states that Memphis would have received nearly $225,000 in additional federal AIDS housing funds in 2004 if the city's number of HIV-positive residents had been counted instead of its cumulative AIDS cases. Memphis received a total of about $2.1 million in AIDS housing grants through HOPWA and other sources in 2004.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks Memphis as one of the U.S. cities with the fastest-rising HIV caseloads.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers HOPWA grants, says the Bush administration is working to change the funding formula in its proposed 2006 budget. (Advocate.com)