City presents HOPWA subrecipient agreements to support housing for people with HIV/AIDS

Houston’s Housing and Community Development Department presented a series of subrecipient agreements on Aug. 19 to use Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) funds to support housing and services for people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS.

Assistant Director Melanie Barr told the committee that 14 applications were submitted for the HOPWA funding cycle; 12 organizations are moving forward while two withdrew. The funded projects include transitional and permanent housing, tenant-based rental assistance, short-term rent/mortgage/utility aid, and supportive services such as case management, mental-health and substance-use counseling, and life-skills programming.

The awards presented to the committee included agreements to: Caring Safe Place (up to $1,019,313 to serve a minimum of 50 households across two housing programs, term 09/01/2025–08/31/2026, option to renew); Brentwood Community Foundation (up to $740,343.35 to serve a minimum of 145 households through transitional housing and STRMU emergency assistance, term 09/01/2025–08/31/2026, option to renew); The Women’s Home (up to $321,888.41 for the Whole Life Collaborative, serving a minimum of 70 households, term 09/01/2025–08/31/2026, option to renew); Allies in Hope (a second amendment providing an additional approximately $766,760 to continue support for 112 households, extending the agreement term through 12/31/2025); SEARCH (House of Tiny Treasures preschool) (up to $142,713.52 to support 10 households including at least 16 children, term 10/01/2025–09/30/2026, option to renew); Latino Americana de Accion Social/FLOS (up to $751,073 to serve a minimum of 66 households, term 10/01/2025–09/30/2026, option to renew); Houston SRO Housing Corporation (up to $307,977 to operate a permanent community residence, term 10/01/2025–09/30/2026); and Houston Help, Inc. (up to $413,091 to operate a family permanent community residence, term 10/01/2025–09/30/2026). Several organizations noted in the meeting have long histories of city funding and were present in the audience when their agreements were summarized.

One award on the agenda was presented as a subrecipient agreement with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston to provide HOPWA funds that would serve a minimum of 113 households with a mix of tenant‑based rental assistance, short‑term rent/mortgage/utility assistance and permanent housing placement services. The meeting record includes an outlying dollar figure for that item (a long numeric readback that appears to be a transcription error); the committee presentation did not provide a clearly stated, verifiable final dollar amount for Catholic Charities in the transcript.

Committee members asked for additional data and context. Councilmember Julie Ramirez asked how many people in Houston fall into the category of “persons living with HIV/AIDS.” Barr responded that HOPWA-funded programs currently serve about 1,400 people and that staff will provide the city’s Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) in September with a fuller data snapshot. Councilmember Fred Flickinger asked whether similar HUD grants exist for other diseases; staff said HOPWA is a HUD program specific to HIV/AIDS and that disease-specific grants outside HOPWA typically come through health‑department channels or CDC programs.

Two public speakers addressed the committee after the presentation. Donna Rickenbacker, who identified herself as a developer of OST Lofts, thanked council members for disaster‑reallocation funding that supported affordable housing projects and invited members to the OST Lofts ribbon cutting. A second speaker, identified as Brother Doug, asked how the city evaluates which providers receive funds and urged the committee to require outcome reporting from organizations that receive city money so the city can assess program performance.

Housing staff said the HOPWA awards presented are the first set and that additional projects from the 14 applications will be brought to the committee in coming months. Barr also said monitoring results for the listed organizations showed no findings on the most recent city compliance reviews where stated.

Next steps: staff will provide the CAPER and additional program metrics to the committee and will bring the remaining HOPWA agreements at future meetings.