Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA)

The City of Miami is Local Administrator of HOPWA Funds. Pursuant to federal regulations implementing the AIDS Housing Opportunity Act of 1990, the City of Miami, as the municipality with the largest population, serves as the grantee for HOPWA funds, on behalf of the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division covering Miami-Dade County (Miami-Dade EMD) of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (EMSA). The HOPWA Program administered by the City of Miami serves all residents of Miami-Dade County. The City works with all levels of government, service providers, consumers and the private sector in developing resources and services, particularly housing and social services for persons living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs). 

Persons who are low-income (80% of median income as established by U.S. HUD) and have received an AIDS diagnosis are eligible for assistance under HOPWA. 

The Miami-Dade HIV/AIDS Partnership, through its Housing Committee, serves in an advisory capacity to the City Commission with regard to HOPWA formula grant funds awarded to the City on behalf of the Miami-Dade EMD. Specifically, the City of Miami looks to the Partnership's Housing Committee for community input and advice concerning resource allocation, HOPWA program policies, and coordination of efforts to address housing needs with care and treatment services and activities directed at persons living with HIV/AIDS. The City of Miami is formally represented on the Partnership and its Housing Committee.

Local HOPWA funds are directed towards assisting eligible clients with housing designed to prevent homelessness, including emergency short-term rental, mortgage and utility assistance, long-term rental assistance, project-based rental assistance, operating assistance for project-based housing and community residences; and, when funds allow, capital funding for rehabilitation or new construction (new construction limited to singe-room occupancy units and community residences). HOPWA funds also are directed towards housing information, referral and advocacy services. 

Consistent with shifts in U.S. HUD policy and local policy recommended by the Housing Committee of the Miami-Dade HIV/AIDS Partnership and adopted by the City of Miami, HOPWA funds are directed at housing and housing-related services only due to the limited resources available to meet the housing needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the Miami-Dade EMD. To ensure that recipients receive necessary supportive services to maintain housing stability, all recipients of HOPWA assistance must receive case management services through coordination with Ryan White-funded programs or other community-based programs. 

Limitations on Administrative Costs

Under federal regulations governing HOPWA, administrative costs for the grantee and project sponsors, are not to exceed three percent (3%) of the annual HOPWA allocation to administer the program locally, including the cost of general management, oversight, coordination, program evaluation, and reporting on all HOPWA funded services; and seven percent (7%) for administrative costs incurred as part of the delivery of HOPWA Services.

HOPWA NSPIRE Standards

In 2018, Congress mandated the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to update the Housing Quality Standards (HQS) across HUD programs to reflect current advances in home inspections and the modernization of standards for health and safety threats of today by implementing the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE).  The goal of NSPIRE is to consolidate and align housing quality standard requirements and associated inspection standards across HUD programs, wherever possible. However, different HUD programs might have unique inspection standards and protocols such as the HOPWA program as the HOPWA NSPIRE Standards did not adopt all of the NSPIRE Standards and deficiencies. The HOPWA NSPIRE Implementation Notice (Federal Register 6469-C-02) was issued in August 2025. Grantees, including the City of Miami, must comply with HOPWA NSPIRE standards no later than February 2, 2026.

Affirmative habitability requirements are the basic requirements that must be met for HOPWA housing assistance to be provided as clarified in the HOPWA NSPIRE Standards. Housing that does not meet or continue to meet the affirmative requirements for each inspectable area would not pass an inspection and therefore would not be eligible for occupancy with HOPWA assistance. Below is additional information on two important requirements that are part of HUD’s commitment to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of tenants in federally assisted housing. 

*Smoke (fire) Alarms

Definition: A self-contained device that detects the presence of smoke, typically as an indicator of fire, and provides a visual or audio signal as an alert. (Table 48: Smoke Alarm, HOPWA NSPIRE standards)

Installation: One smoke alarm must be installed in each bedroom, one in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms mounted on the ceiling in the hallway, and at a minimum on each level of the dwelling unit, including basements. 

Standards: All smoke alarms must be either hardwired or have sealed, 10-year batteries. 

Maintenance: Landlords are responsible for ensuring that smoke alarms are in working order at the beginning of each new tenancy and must provide tenants with instructions for testing and maintaining the alarms. 

*Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms

Definition: A single or multiple station alarm intended to detect carbon monoxide gas and alert occupants by a distinct audible signal, or if the unit is occupied by a person with a hearing impairment, a distinct visual alarm or combination of audible and visual alarms. It incorporates a sensor, control components and an alarm notification appliance in a single unit. (Table 4: Carbon Monoxide Alarm, HOPWA NSPIRE standards)

Each dwelling unit assisted under [the HOPWA program] shall contain installed carbon monoxide alarms or detectors that meet or exceed—

(1) the standards described in chapters 9 and 11 of the 2018 publication of the International Fire Code, as published by the International Code Council; or

(2) any other standards as may be adopted by the Secretary, including any relevant updates to the International Fire Code, through a notice published in the Federal Register.

Installation:

One (1) or more of the following scenarios requires a CO Alarm(s) as indicated, in the unit:

1. Unit contains a fuel-burning appliance or fuel-burning fireplace, the CO must be installed in the immediate vicinity of each bedroom OR within each bedroom.
2. Bedroom or bathroom attached to bedroom contains a fuel-burning appliance or fuel-burning fireplace OR has adjacent spaces from which byproducts of combustion gases can flow, the CO alarm should be installed in each bedroom
3. Unit or bedroom is served by a forced-air furnace that is located elsewhere, the carbon monoxide alarm should be installed in the immediate vicinity of each bedroom OR within each bedroom OR within the room or area with the first duct register and the carbon monoxide alarm signals are automatically transmitted to an approved location.
4. Unit or bedroom is located in a building that contains a fuel-burning appliance or fuel-burning fireplace and the CO alarm should be installed in an approved location between the fuel-burning appliance or fuel-burning fireplace and the Unit or bedroom OR on the ceiling of the room containing the fuel-burning appliance or fuel-burning fireplace OR if the Unit or bedroom has communicated openings to the fuel-burning appliance or fuel-burning fireplace the carbon monoxide alarm should be installed in the immediate vicinity of each bedroom OR within each bedroom.
5. Unit or bedroom is located one (1) story or less above or below an attached private garage that does not have natural ventilation OR is enclosed and does not have a ventilation system for vehicle exhaust AND carbon monoxide alarm should be installed in the immediate vicinity of each bedroom OR within each bedroom.