HUD threatens to block Washington D.C.'s AIDS funding

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is threatening to halt federal funding for the Washington D.C.'s AIDS programs after a Washington Post investigation found many delivered faulty services and failed to account for their work. "Assistant Secretary Mercedes M. Marquez said HUD will send a letter to the city this week stipulating that no new AIDS housing money will be awarded unless the D.C. Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Administration improves its tracking of services and spending."

"HUD officials said this is the first time in the AIDS housing program's 18-year history that money would be withheld from a city based on poor performance. ... Since at least 2003, HUD's monitoring reports have repeatedly found that the city, which has the highest rate of AIDS cases in the country, has failed to keep tabs on nonprofit groups that promised to provide housing for the sick. In some cases, the District did not provide financial records and other documents from HUD monitors" (Cenziper, 11/12).

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