The federal government awarded HIV grants totaling over $47 million to local programs that provide housing and to global centers that track HIV/AIDS data.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) granted more than $27 million in funding over three years through its Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA). The grants were awarded to 31 local programs throughout the country (a breakdown of state grants is below) and provide housing assistance and supportive services for people living with HIV and their families.

In its press release about the grants, HUD underscores that housing is health care, stating: “Research shows that a stable home is critical to the well-being of persons living with HIV/AIDS, and results in better health outcomes and reduced transmission of the disease. In addition to housing assistance, these local programs will provide access to supportive services such as case management, mental health services, substance abuse services, and employment training. The combination of housing assistance and supportive services are critical in sustaining housing stability, promoting better health outcomes, and increasing quality of life, which promotes self-sufficiency efforts for those able to transition to the private housing market.”

“Safe and stable housing can have a profound impact on one’s life,” added HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “HUD is proud to continue its support of local partners in their work to assist persons living with HIV/AIDS in securing the essential housing, health care, and opportunities they deserve.”

You can learn more about HOPWA on HUDexchange.info.

Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health also renewed a series of HIV grants: $20.8 million will go to seven data centers across the globe that gather and analyze health information on five different continents as part of the 15-year-old International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) program. The grants are awarded for one year but are expected to be renewed for another four years, for a total of $100 million.

IeDEA includes health data on more than 2 million people, but information is de-identified and pooled. The resulting data help answer questions about health trends and provide information that researchers can’t assess on their own. Notably, it includes data on 200,000 people with HIV who are younger than 19, offering valuable insight on pediatric and adolescent HIV research.

An NIH press release further explains the importance of IeDEA and how the grants will be used:

The IeDEA program addresses local, national and global questions about illness and death in people with HIV to accelerate progress toward ending the pandemic. The program also provides data to international partners such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to inform global health policy. In addition, IeDEA builds global health research infrastructure to help the next generation of scientists address questions important to their geographical regions. Finally, the program works to improve the quality of international health data by identifying gaps in both data and analytical methods and determining how to fill them.

The new funding will enable the program to add a Sentinel Research Network (SRN) to prospectively collect cardiovascular, cancer, lung, metabolic, substance use and mental health data to characterize the sizeable impact of non-communicable diseases on people with HIV today. The SRN will consist of at least two HIV clinics per region that collect data on non-communicable diseases as well as on hepatitis, the level of HIV in the blood, and a patient’s level of immune health. These clinics will be located in low- and middle-income countries, where such information often is not gathered.

Each data center collects health information from several different countries in its region. The seven centers that received renewed funding are located in these regions:

  • Asia and Australia
  • The Caribbean, Central America and South America;
  • North America
  • Central Africa
  • East Africa
  • Southern Africa
  • West Africa.

Regarding the housing grants in the United States, HUD renewed grants for the following programs:

State

  Grantee Name

Final Approved Amounts

AK

State of Alaska

$773,309

CA

Lutheran Social Services of Northern California

$1,276,936

CA

The Salvation Army, a California Corporation

$1,063,476

DE

Ministry of Caring, Inc.

$791,010

HI

Gregory House Programs

$1,391,903

IL

AIDS Foundation of Chicago

$1,458,870

IL

Chicago House and Social Service Agency

$1,277,394

IL

City of Chicago

$1,494,847

IL

Interfaith Residence dba Doorways

$971,945

MA

Community Healthlink, Inc.

$838,159

MA

Fenway Community Health Center

$1,398,936

ME

Frannie Peabody Center

$1,042,130

ME

Frannie Peabody Center

$1,310,348

MI

Cass Community Social Services, Inc.

$1,350,186

MO

Interfaith Residence dba Doorways

$1,117,255

MT

State of Montana

$1,493,525

NH

State of New Hampshire

$974,100

NJ

New Jersey Department of health

$1,235,823

NY

Bailey House, Inc.

$1,039,365

NY

Bailey House, Inc.

$1,326,555

VT

Burlington Housing Authority

$383,875

WA

Washington State Department of Health

$1,222,025

WI

AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin d/b/a Vivent Health

$1,263,091

WY

Wyoming Department of Health

$573,454

You can read details about each program in this HUD summary.

In related news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced funding to support the national “Ending the HIV Epidemic” plan. For details, see “CDC Awards $117M to Local and State Efforts to End the HIV Epidemic.”