Housing Opportunities

Please call (806) 372-1050 to make an appointment. If we are speaking with someone else, or we are closed, you will get a recording. Please leave your name and number, and we will call you the same day or the next, Monday through Friday.

Once we make an appointment for you, we will go over with you the documents you need to bring with you when you come to our office.

Please do not miss or be late for your appointment.

You will need to bring seven proofs with you. Your HIV case manager may have some of these proofs already. The seven proofs you will need are:

1. Proof of HIV+ status in your name, from a doctor or clinic.

2. Social Security number and photo ID for you. Social Security numbers or other ID for every family member who lives with you. Proof of age for children.

3. Proof an unexpected event keeps you from paying your household bills. Examples include: receipts for Emergency Room services, proof of job loss or fewer hours at work, that you had a fire or flood, your roommates moved, etc.

4. As a renter, a current lease in your name as tenant. If you do not have a lease, we have a form your landlord can use. If you are buying a home, the payment book or contract in your name. If you own your home, proof of home ownership.

5. Your last rent or mortgage receipt and all bills for electricity, gas, water and phone at the address where you live.

6. Past-due notices for rent or mortgage in your name, and for utilities in your name.

7. Proof of your household income, including Social Security and SSI benefits, TANF benefits, earnings, pensions, etc. If you are disabled and will not return to work, proof you have filed for Social Security or SSI disability benefits. If you are ill this month but expect to return to work, a notice from your doctor. If you are out of work, or your work hours were cut, proof you are looking for new work or letter from your employer. If you have a new job but need help with bills this month only, proof your new earnings will cover your bills next month.

We start every visit with a smile and a handshake. We will discuss your needs and how best to help you. Each person has different needs, so we cannot say how much we can help you until we review everything, and get paperwork signed. We want to be able to assist you. In order to do that, you have to help us to help you! If you bring all the papers with you that we need, we may be able to help you. If you have a utility notice, we call the utility company and pledge a payment for you. For your landlord or mortgage-broker, we give you a promissory letter to take to them or can give them a call on your behalf.

This program is available for up to 147 days of a twelve-month period, or once the financial assistance has reached our annual cap. These limits apply no matter where you live in the 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle.

Yes, you must apply each month you are requesting assistance, as support is not automatic or guaranteed. However, many required documents only need to be submitted once. The initial application typically requires the most effort, while subsequent applications are often quicker and easier.

Each applicants circumstances are different. Check amounts vary monthly. There is no guaranteed minimum amount.

We use one formula, based on HOPWA guidelines, for all applicants.

All checks are made only to the landlord, mortgage holder or utility company. We regret that we cannot make reimbursement payments to you.

People who are HIV-negative can have low immunity for other reasons, so a lab report with low results, by itself, does not prove HIV infection. The HIV+ proof must be in your name, from a physician or clinic. It does not have to be a recent record.

Emergency HOPWA helps when something unexpected causes you to use your housing money for an emergency. It is intended for short-term crises, not ongoing situations. Examples include fires, floods, serious illness, loss of income, or urgent car repairs needed for work—things that are outside of your control.

One of our services is budget advice. Perhaps with some planning help, you can cover your bills with your current income. Otherwise, your HIV case manager may have additional resources for you.

Car maintenance, having to purchase school supplies in August, buying Christmas gifts, etc. these are expected expenses and do not qualify as unexpected events, no matter how necessary. Summers in Amarillo are hot, and winters can be cold, so higher electric bills due to air conditioning, and higher natural gas bills due to heating are expected. We ask all clients to request balanced billing from your electricity or natural gas supplier or during seasons when electricity or natural gas use is lower, you can pay extra on your utility bills each month; that way you will have savings in the bill before the next heat wave or cold snap arrives.

Emergency HOPWA is designed to prevent homelessness. Your name on the lease shows that you have a right to live where you do. It is your home. If your name is not on the lease, the legal tenant can force you to leave, even if you just paid all the rent! If you are not a tenant on the lease, HOPWA cannot prevent homelessness for you.

A past due notice is no longer needed to assess financial need. A late payment notice is only one of the methods that can be used to verify the debt. A needs assessment interview can be set-up with a case manager to discuss what is required to determine your needs

For renters, we recommend that you visit your landlord as soon as you know the rent will be late. Explain your situation, ask him or her to give you a past due notice on the first day the rent is late, and bring this notice to us immediately (we have a form your landlord can use). If you have completed your interview and presented all other documentation for the month, we can give you a promissory letter to take to your landlord that same day. Do not wait for an eviction notice!

For utilities, as soon as you get the first past due notice after the regular bill, bring it to us immediately. If all other documents are received and your interview is complete for the month, we pledge payment that day and your utilities will continue. Do not wait for a cut-off notice!

Yes in certain circumstances. A case manager will be able to determine if you qualify for this assistance.

If a household’s utility account is in someone else’s name, a Case manager could request a copy of the account holder’s photo identification and a signed statement from the account holder confirming that the household is responsible for utility payments.

Emergency HOPWA applies to rent, mortgage and utility payments. We have asked that local phone service qualify as a utility, but to date that decision has not been granted.

Under no circumstances do we identify the Financial Assistance Program as one for people with HIV. We do not identify ourselves as a program of PASO, and we do not mention HIV in any of our documentation. We take great effort to guard your status and do not release it to anyone.

PASO has case managers that are fluent in Spanish. If another language is needed, including ASL, we can make arrangements with advance notice.