Grant Loss Pushes AIDS Home to Brink of Insolvency : Health: Oceanside’s Fraternity House, which relocated after public complaints, now faces financial hardship.

An embattled home for AIDS victims in Oceanside has suffered yet another setback with the loss of a $10,000 bank grant.

Fraternity House already had relocated last year after bitter complaints from a homeowners association. Now, the setback last week has supporters wondering about the future operations of the only residential center for AIDS victims in North County.

“It’s not closing us down, but it’s making things real difficult,” said Michael Howard, fund-raiser for Fraternity House.

Operators of Fraternity House were informed last week that Wells Fargo Bank would not be able to follow through with a $10,000 grant for which the home had budgeted.

“We just heard that their money for the rest of this year had already been granted, and that we would not receive the grant,” said Mary Jane Boyd, chairwoman of the board of directors for the house.

The grant would have accounted for 10% of the home’s operating budget, Boyd said.

A year ago, a homeowners association attempted to force the house out of an Oceanside community, and their landlord refused to renew their lease when it expired at the end of 1989.

But now, after having relocated to another house in Oceanside, they are teetering on the edge of insolvency.

“It means we’re going to have to juggle our bills,” Howard said. “It means that rent, staffing and food come first, and utilities and all the extras come second.”

Extras may include heat in the garage, which doubles as an office and laundry room, and gets cold even during the late afternoon.

Howard said a yearly fund-raising campaign that began last week will help delay the effects of the grant loss until January or February.

The home, a four-bedroom residence that now has six AIDS patients and can hold as many as nine, acts as a supervised living arrangement for those needing 24-hour care.

“Basically, if someone has AIDS and can’t go back to their living environment for whatever reason, if they were getting discharged from the hospital and had no place to go, they come here,” said Michael Mullowney, manager of the home.

Mullowney said the home has not received the negative backlash at its new location that it did at the previous home.

“There aren’t any crosses on the front lawn yet,” Mullowney said. “But nothing surprises me in this day and age.”

Fraternity House has been the final residence for about 70% of the more than 100 patients who have lived at the facility over the past three years.

For some patients, the home is a comfortable place to confront what they perceive as inevitable.

“I am the only AIDS patient I know of who realizes that there’s not going to be a cure for many years to come,” said David Marshall, 40, a resident at the home who believes he has less than than two years to live.

“Almost every AIDS patient I know says, ‘They’re going to come up with a miracle cure, and I’m going to beat it,’ ” said Marshall, who is taking seven medications to overcome various symptoms of the disease.

Howard said the recent fund-raising effort already has raised more than $2,000, and he hopes to collect as much as $30,000 by the end of the year.

“It is the spirit of the season, and we hope people will respond to our pleas,” Boyd said.