Submitted by: sm21@midway.uchicago.edu (scott andrew mendel)
TO:	EVERYONE CONCERNED ABOUT HOUSING PROGRAMS FOR PEOPLE WITH AIDS

FROM:	AIDS FOUNDATION OF CHICAGO (via Scott Mendel)

RE:	FUNDING FOR HOPWA IN JEOPARDY

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE PROBLEM:
The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that reviews and modifies
initial budget requests from each federal department has recommended
eliminating Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) along with
Shelter Care Plus, Supportive Housing, and Section 8 in Fiscal Year 1996. 
OMB recommends replacing these programs with a block grant program to the
states which would no longer earmark funds for HIV/AIDS services.

Secretary of Housing Henry Cisneros has apparently submitted a very strong
appeal to OMB and the White House.  The President can decide against OMB's
recommendations and keep HOPWA in his final budget to Congress, expected in
late January.

For those who don't know, HOPWA is a program that provides emergency funds to
poor people with AIDS in times of housing crisis.  These funds range from
short term rent subsidies to emergency payments to utility companies.  The
program is the one federal initiative that stands directly between poor
people with AIDS and homelessness.


PLEASE CONTACT IMMEDIATELY:

President Bill Clinton		202-456-1414

Senator Paul Simon		202-224-2152	202-224-0868(fax)

Senator Carol Moseley-Braun	202-224-2854	202-224-2626(fax)

Representative John Porter	202-225-4835	202-225-0157

(your own senators and representatives if you are outside Illinois)

Alice Rivlin, OMB Director	202--395-4742


TELL THEM YOUR CONCERNS, INCLUDING:

1.	Keep HOPWA intact as a program providing housing services designated
for persons with HIV/AIDS, and

2.	Increase appropriations in order to maintain a comprehensive
continuum of community-based housing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for your help.  And please respond to this as soon as possible!  The
President's budget proposal is being drafted right now, and the window of
opportunity to save HOPWA is very small.

  -Scott Mendel
   sm21@midway.uchicago.edu