WASHINGTON - Marking World AIDS Day, some activists held a protest at the D.C. field officer for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, upset that 275 people HIV and AIDS are stuck on a waiting list for special housing vouchers.

"These are people who are not just living with HIV, but sick with AIDS. We know that housing makes a difference whether or not people can prevent transmission," said Matthew Kavanagh, D.C. Fights Back.

The protesters are upset about the number of people on D.C.'s waiting list for the HOPWA program - Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids. "We came here instead and st up tents. We're going to set up housing in your front lawn," said Kavanagh.

The protesters say housing is a life or death issue for people with AIDS. "It makes the difference about whether people are going to get sick and it's sick people that are going to cost the District much more later. If we don't invest now, it'll come later. We can't wait," said Kavanagh.

The protesters say when they question the waiting list, they get a lot of finger pointing between federal and local officials. "There's a log jam. There's mis-communication. There's lack of transparency and no one could get any information, and the result was people were going without housing," said Christine Campbell, Housing Works.

A representative from HUD eventually invited three of the protesters inside; they've set up a meeting to discuss their concerns. HUD officials say they're also inviting District officials and they're hoping to correct the backlog. "Hopefully we'll get people housed within the next 6 months, but what's great is the people who make decisions will meet on Friday to move the process forward," said Campbell.

Brian Sullivan with the federal HUD office says it's unclear whether this is an administrative bottleneck or if it's just an issue of supply and demand. If it's administrative, he says that's unfortunate and that's a problem they need to correct.

But at the D.C. Department of Health, which manages the HOPWA program, Holiday Johnson says it's not administrative, it's supply and demand. She says they've maximized their resources. They currently have enrolled more than 600 people with HIV and AIDS in the program. The more people hear about the program, the more resources they need.