Durham council approves amendments to consolidated plan, coalition urges HOPWA funding be routed to community partners

Durham City Council held a public hearing and unanimously approved substantial amendments to the city’s 2020–2025 consolidated plan and multiple annual action plans to reallocate Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOPWA funding and to add eligible HOPWA activities.

Nut graf: Community speakers and clinical providers asked the council to prioritize “housing first” strategies and to route more HOPWA funds to community-based organizations with demonstrated experience serving people with HIV — arguing that stable housing reduces mortality and transmission. Staff said a competitive request for proposals (RFP) is open for HOPWA-funded activities and that the city will release an additional competitive RFP for resource-identification and strategic planning across the five-county EMSA (eligible metropolitan statistical area).

What the amendment does: According to staff, the proposed amendment (publicly noticed and published) had four elements: 1) reallocate funding to ensure timely…