As Tenants With HIV Face Eviction Threat, The City Of Atlanta Has Few Answers

Outside the Thursday meeting with Atlanta City Council members, City Hall was decorated for Pride Month, including posters of LGBTQ activists and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. In the special meeting, a program that helps people with HIV cover their rent was being discussed.

Stephannie Stokes / WABE

Advocates call it a crisis. More than 200 or 300 people living with HIV in and around Atlanta could face eviction from their homes. And a special City Council meeting about the issue Thursday didn’t clear up concerns.

The rent money is tied up in a federal program called HOPWA — Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS — that the city is in charge of administering.

The federal government sends funding to the city of Atlanta, which distributes it to local providers. And they use the money to do things like help people with HIV cover their rent.