Florida AIDS
organization loses funding

Officials in West Palm Beach, Fla., have decided not to allocate federal AIDS funds to Hope House, an organization providing housing services to HIV-positive people, due to violations of U.S. Health and Human Services guidelines, The Palm Beach Post reports. City commissioners voted 3-1 to redirect about $1 million in housing funds to the Comprehensive Community Care Network, which is expected to pick up all 55 of the leases for properties that were offered to low-income HIV-positive people and their families through Hope House. CCCN officials say that none of the HIV patients will be evicted because the individual landlords of the properties have all been informed of the switch and have agreed to continue the leases.

A report released in March by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cited three problems with Hope House, including the improper sale of a property that was improved with federal funds. City oversight of the AIDS facility also was lacking, according to the HUD report.

The $1 million in federal Ryan White funds provided to Hope House accounted for more than three quarters of the agency's annual $1.3 million budget. Hope House executive director Angela Rose says the agency is working on raising money from other sources so that the organization can remain in operation. (The Advocate)