Florida: AIDS Charity Stops Paying Rent, Risking Eviction of Clients

Hope House, a West Palm Beach nonprofit that has provided housing for AIDS patients for 20 years, said recently that it had stopped paying its clients' rent and utility bills, putting them at risk of eviction.

Last month, city officials decided to stop giving Hope House federal grant money beginning in October, and to transfer clients' leases to the Comprehensive Community Care Network, which also provides housing to AIDS patients. In March, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a report critical of Hope House and the city's oversight of it. City officials said they had lost confidence in Hope House's ability to follow federal guidelines.

In the letter Hope House sent the city, Executive Director Angela Rose explained that because the city has not reimbursed the group for expenses, Hope House could not afford to pay clients' rent. She noted the group could not afford to pay utility bills because the city had told tenants to send their share of the rent to landlords directly, instead of to Hope House.

City officials said Hope House has had trouble providing documents required for reimbursement, and that the group should have enough cash on hand to cover expenses, as other groups receiving federal funds do.

Hope House has received about $1 million in recent years and used it to help roughly 60 AIDS patients and their families with rent and utilities in apartments and homes throughout Palm Beach County. City officials admitted the city had exercised poor oversight of Hope House, but they said the group had consistently failed to follow federal rules on its own.

City officials have been negotiating with landlords and trying to find clients other places to live.

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