The Atlanta City Council passed legislation authorizing emergency funding in the amount of $1.5 million to benefit a nonprofit that said it could no longer pay the rent for nearly 250 clients living with HIV. The funding means these individuals are no longer in immediate danger of losing their homes, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Living Room, a nonprofit city contractor, said the crisis arose because the city-run Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA) makes payments months late.

HOPWA is a federally funded program that assists people with HIV. As reported last month, contractors claim the city of Atlanta has failed to spend $41 million in funds from the federal government earmarked for HIV housing programs. The has made it hard for the contractors to provide services to their clients.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Living Room has sued the city, claiming that its payments were withheld because its executive director, Jerome Brooks, rejected the sexual and romantic advances of a city employee in charge of the HOPWA funds.

The city contract with Living Room ended in July, so the city council funding will not be awarded to that nonprofit. Instead, the money will be dispersed among seven other groups that are taking over where Living Room left off.