Durham reviews HOPWA spending after contractor collapse, moves to issue RFPs

Durham City Council heard a detailed briefing on Thursday about the city’s Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program, including how federal rules, a contractor failure and recent transfers of responsibility have affected spending and service delivery.

The presentation said the city is the HOPWA grantee for the Durham eligible metropolitan statistical area (Chatham, Durham, Granville, Orange and Person counties) and that its current HOPWA activities include tenant‑based rental assistance (TBRA), short‑term rent/mortgage/utility (STRMU) payments, supportive services and permanent housing placement. Reginald J. Johnson, director of the Community Development Department, and Colin Davis, manager of the Homeless System, led the update.

Why it matters: HOPWA is the primary federal program dedicated to housing for people living with HIV and AIDS. Council members pressed staff on whether the city is drawing and spending all available allocations, how priorities are set across five counties, and how recent operational lapses affected people and landlords.

City officials said HOPWA allocations rose substantially after HUD updated its formula. Between 2020 and 12/31/2024 the city reported spending roughly $1,066,003 on TBRA (helping 28 unduplicated households), $431,000 on STRMU (18 households), $339,225 on supportive services (62 households) and about $49,000 on permanent housing placement (49 households). The presentation noted HOPWA funds are reimbursements: the city must pay costs first and then draw HUD reimbursement under a multi‑year period of performance.

Davis told council that the city inherited HOPWA administration from prior regional arrangements and that project sponsors — nonprofit agencies under contract with the city — carry out the services. He said that when Durham Housing Authority (DHA) exited HOPWA voucher work, the city contracted Central Piedmont Community Action (CPCA) as a replacement vendor. CPCA later ceased operations without notice; staff said the city retrieved client records from the closed provider and moved short‑term responsibility for payments and landlord outreach into the Community Development Department to avoid lapses in assistance.

"We literally were in their office having a normal technical assistance meeting, and the next day it was posted on our website that all staff were furloughed," Davis said, describing the sudden vendor collapse and the city’s response. Durham staff said they sent letters to landlords, asked them to register as city vendors so payments could be made, and are paying outstanding amounts to make landlords whole while the city stands up a new procurement process.

Staff said a forthcoming RFP will solicit project sponsors for TBRA, STRMU, supportive services and permanent housing placement. The RFP will be driven by the current needs assessment, annual action‑plan requirements and state procurement law (which staff said requires a competitive process every three years). Johnson and Davis said the city will also seek funding for a strategic plan / needs assessment update and will consider adding permanent in‑house HOPWA capacity; they told council they plan a temporary staff assignment to manage the transition while the RFP runs.

Council members pressed for more community engagement in setting priorities and for clearer public communication when funding or operations change. Several members expressed concern that the vendor failure left landlords unpaid and that affected tenants faced the risk of eviction, and they asked staff for documentation showing past needs assessments and CAPER reports. City staff agreed to provide those materials and said they would pursue quick RFP timelines while maintaining HUD compliance rules.

Ending note: Staff said the city has drawn some funds for contracts already and that HUD grants include administrative set‑asides; any remaining allocations must be spent within HUD’s grant period or via approved extensions. Council members asked the administration to return with more detailed spending and outreach plans and to improve earlier public notice when program operations change.