May 9, 2008

HOTEL HELL

HASA client Abrams shares his housing nightmare at the Saturday rally

A spirited rally last Saturday targeted landlord Hank Freid for illegally converting commercial single room occupancies (SROs) meant for low-income people, many with HIV, into hotels for tourists.

"It's a crime and a shame," said Eric Abrams, a HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) client who is suing Freid to stay in his room at Freid's Broadway Hotel on Broadway & 101st Street. More than 50 people attended the rally, organized by the Goddard Riverside West Side SRO Law Project, New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), City Councilmembers Melissa Mark Viverito and Gail Brewer, the Housing Conservation Coordinators and the West Side Neighborhood Alliance, and included a skit (see below) featuring a HASA representative throwing money at a scary, giant Freid." (see below)...

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May 8, 2008

BIG TEN

Epstein, Steinberg and Cohen at the Housing Works Bookstore Café

On Tuesday influential authors Helen Epstein (The Invisible Cure and Jonny Steinberg (Sizwe's Test) spoke to a packed house at the Housing Works Bookstore Café about what is hindering AIDS prevention and treatment efforts in Southern and Western Africa. The discussion, moderated by Jonathan Cohen of the Open Society Foundation, was one of the AIDS advocacy components of the Housing Works Bookstore's 10th anniversary celebration. For a list of upcoming 10th anniversary events click here.

Before the event got underway, Housing Works President and CEO Charles King took a moment to explain the role the bookstore played in Housing Works ability to provide services in Downtown Manhattan. The Housing Works Bookstore Café was founded ten years ago in conjunction with Housing Works' syringe exchange program on Crosby Street. “Crosby Street was the toilet of SoHo," King said, and neighbors complained about the needle exchange. King promised that "far from making Crosby Street worse, we would contribute to its gentrification." And he was prophetic. Today everyone from fashion glamazons to Housing Works’ clients to world-famous literati flock to the Bookstore’s chic Soho location. As Cohen noted, "I think every needle exchange throughout the world should have a bookstore attached."...

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AIDS HOUSING GOES GLOBAL

Housing for people with AIDS is necessary in every country

When you're at the International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Mexico City in August, don't miss the "International Summit on Poverty, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS" satellite session: This first-of-its-kind meeting will create a strategy for addressing homelessness and poverty as significant barriers to fighting the AIDS epidemic.

The two-hour summit is organized by the National AIDS Housing Coalition, Housing Works and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, with committee members from Thailand, China, Kenya, South Africa, the U.S. and Canada. Participants will work together to develop and present to the IAC a declaration demanding adequate housing as a fundamental human right and an essential element of effective HIV prevention and health care...

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May 2, 2008

PROTESTING PUERTO RICO'S CRISIS

Activists smile after charges dismissed

After almost six months and three court appearances, charges against twelve AIDS activistS who blocked traffic in Manhattan to demand federal intervention in Puerto Rico's AIDS crisis have been dismissed. In November the "Broadway 12" lay down on Broadway in lower Manhattan near the Health Resources and Services Administration's New York offices, snarling traffic for almost an hour. On Wednesday, when police officers neglected to show up to in New York Criminal Court, a judge said the group was free to go.

The activists say they are ready to get arrested again to force HRSA to take control of Puerto Rico's Ryan White funds. The mismanagement and fraud of these dollars has gone on for years while people living with HIV/AIDS are denied access to treatment and prevention. This week more information surfaced regarding the commonwealth's AIDS chaos. Puerto Rico's Office of the Controller revealed that it has no record of a Pharmaceutical Benefits Manager (PBM) that was ostensibly managing $78 million in AIDS Drug Assistance Program funds...

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NO PRIDE AGENDA WITHOUT GENDA

What do we want? GENDA!

The chilly weather in Albany didn't stop more than 1,000 LGBT people their allies from attending the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Equality and Justice Day Tuesday for a whirlwind of rallies, workshops and lobbying. The activists were in the state capitol to demand passage of the Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Act (A.6584/S.3753), the Marriage and Same Sex Couples in New York Act (A.8590/S.5884), and the Dignity for All Students Act (A.3496/S.1571).

GENDA—the only one of the three bills that has yet to pass in the Assembly—would protect all people on the basis of gender identity from discrimination in health care, housing employment and public accommodations. The legislation has more than 70 sponsors in the Assembly, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has blocked it from coming to the floor for a vote. On Wednesday the Assembly Government Operations committee votes 7-2 in support of the bill. The only dissenters were Assemblymen Jack Quinn and Joseph Saladino. Saladino argued he doesn’t want children in his district to have a "transsexual teacher" and that "our society isn’t ready for that." Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples responded, "It's a shame we have to be debating human rights here. I don't understand why it needs discussion." The bill is now heading to the Codes Committee...

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PLANNING TO END AIDS

Janet Johnson (left) introduced Waters at the AIDS At Home rally

At AIDSWatch's "AIDS At Home" rally on Tuesday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) called for a national AIDS strategy to stem the tide of the epidemic in the U.S. The U.S. requires all countries receiving millions from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funds to create a national strategy for fighting AIDS, but here at home there are only piecemeal efforts to fight the disease.

"America can—and must—do more to fight this disease and to help those who are living with HIV/AIDS. I agree with those gathered here that we need a comprehensive national strategy to end this epidemic and to address the needs of everyone in America who is affected," Waters said. The rally was sponsored by the National Association of People with AIDS and the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA). Other speakers included Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen (D-VI), POZ editor-in-chief Regan Hoffman, NAPWA executive director Frank Oldham, and C2EA members Greg Fordham and Chakena Conway...

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LESS MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS

HASA clients are ending up at the back of the rental line

AIDS housing providers are demanding that the city level the affordable-housing playing field for poor people living with AIDS. This week, advocates sent a letter to the New York City Human Resources Administration (NYCHRA) and the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) asking for a long-overdue rate increase for HASA scatter site housing. Because HASA reimburses landlords at woefully outdated rates, HASA clients are losing out to tenants eligible for Section 8 housing.

"HASA's payment standards are now grossly outdated, and their declining value has become a major impediment to securing adequate housing for clients seeking private market apartments," read a letter sent Monday to NYCHRA Commissioner Robert Doar and HASA Deputy Commissioner Matthew Brune and signed by housing providers including the African Services Committee, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Harlem United, Housing Works and the New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN). The Scattersite II Coalition sent a separate letter to HRA/HASA Director of Housing John Ruscillo also asking for a rate increase...

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LONG ISLAND GETS WHAT IT DESERVES

HHS Secretary Leavitt owes Long Island some moola

In a victory for people living with AIDS in Long Island, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Monday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should not have denied Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) status to Long Island during the 2006 reauthorization of Ryan White funds. While a lower court will have to decide the specifics, Nassau and Suffolk Counties stand to recover at least part of the $1.6 million that was lost when the jurisdiction was downgraded to a Transitional Grant Area from an EMA.

According to the 2006 reauthorization, to qualify as an EMA, there are two requirements: 1) have more than 2,000 new AIDS cases during the five year period leading up to 2005 and 2) have a cumulative total of 3,000 or more living AIDS cases during that period. During the reauthorization HHS decided that because Long Island no longer meets the first requirement, with only 1,505 new cases in the relevant five year period, it no longer qualified as an EMA. However, Long Island still fits the second requirement...

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SAY NO TO THAILAND'S DRUG WAR

A 2006 Thai protest fighting drug laws

Back in 2003, the Thai government launched a massive war on drugs, leading to the extrajudicial killing of thousands of Thai drug users. Suspects were beaten, tortured and forced to confess to false accusations. Many drug users were and continue to be systematically denied access to medical care, including HIV medications. It's estimated that half of people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand are IV drug users.

Now, it seems the Thai government is renewing its terrifying assault on drug users. According to the Thai Network of People Living with AIDS and the Thai AIDS Treatment Group (TTAG), the Prime Minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej, announced last month that the police would have special powers to track down drug users in order to reduce the demand for drugs. The interior minister of Thailand was quoted as saying "for drug dealers, if they do not want to die, they had better quit staying on that road. Drugs suppression in my time as interior minister will follow the approach of [former Thai Prime Minister] Thaksin. If that will lead to 3,000 to 4,000 deaths of those who break the law, then so be it. That has to be done." (For more on the situation in Thailand click here.)...

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April 25, 2008

THE AWARDEES HAVE SPOKEN

Diane and Reggie Williams

The locations just get better and better—but the love, family spirit and activist dedication to ending AIDS are always the beating heart of the best activist party of the year, the Keith D. Cylar Awards and Benefit Gala. This year Esther Boucicault, Gloria González, Diane Williams, Paul Davis and Asia Russell were honored with Cylar Awards at the regal Times Center on Thursday, April 17. The honorees' incredible stories of bravery in the face of AIDS stigma (told in three different languages) prompted standing ovations, laughter and tears. The gala was the culmination of a week's worth of activities associated with the Cylar Awards, given to AIDS activists who demonstrate extraordinary courage and commitment in the fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The award is named for Keith Cylar, the cofounder of Housing Works and a legendary AIDS activist who died of AIDS-related complications in 2004.

Special guests included the ceremony emcee, TV personality and celebrity stylist Bev Smith, POZ editor-in-chief Regan Hoffman, CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston, Assembylman Dick Gottfried, and 1998 Miss America and current star of Broadway's Legally Blonde star Kate Shindle, who hosted the cocktail party before the awards ceremony....

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ANOTHER A-GENDA?

Sklarz and Hunter talk GENDA

A Tuesday forum and panel to mobilize the transgender community and its advocates around the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) bill in New York City became contentious when some panelists and audience members voiced their opposition to the portion of GENDA that amends New York State hate crime law to include gender identity. The Audre Lorde Project and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project—as well as many audience members who spoke—are opposed to the hate crimes measures as a tool in the "prison industrial complex" that can actually be used against transgender people.

"We see queer people get arrested for nothing at all. Hate crime legislation disproportionately affects African-Americans who are already overrepresented in the criminal justice system," Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) Staff Attorney Gabriel Arkles said to applause. Arkles told the Update that the SRLP decided to raise the issue now because the organization hadn't before realized that GENDA included a hate crimes provision....

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HOUSE PROTECTS MEDICAID

Can this Medicaid-slasher be stopped?

By a veto-proof margin of 349 to 62, the House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 5613) delaying the implementation of regulations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would end reimbursements for seven non-medical and preventive services. Every voting Democrat and dozens of Republicans voted to stop implementation of the changes until 2009 so their potential impact can be assessed.

President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. Similar legislation in the Senate hasn't yet moved, and while it is expected to pass, opposition by Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley casts doubt on the likelihood of a veto-proof margin....

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COLD SHOWER

Reps. Davis and Waxman

At the first-ever Congressional hearing about the use of federal funds to support abstinence-only-until marriage sex education on Wednesday, nine of 11 witnesses advocated for comprehensive sex education programs. The testimony came on the heels of studies—including one by the Bush administration—that ab-only education doesn't prevent teen pregnancies or STIs and increasing national talk of "block grants" and "local control" of funding that would let states shift ab-only dollars to comprehensive sex ed.

No piece of testimony during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was more compelling than that given by Max Siegel, an HIV-positive policy associate at AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families....

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April 19, 2008

ACTION ALERT: ASK YOUR SENATOR TO BOOST SECTION 8 HOUSING!

Collins and Feingold support boosting Section 8 (your Senator could be that other guy)

Often, when we think AIDS housing, we think HOPWA and Ryan White. But because of the relative smallness of both, programs such as the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program are needed to fill in the funding holes for low-income people with HIV/AIDS.

But Section 8 hasn't kept pace with the nationwide rise in real estate prices, making truly affordable housing harder and harder to find. To help alleviate the affordable housing crisis, Sens. Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are circulating the below letter for signatures. It urges the Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee to increase funding for the tenant-based Section 8 program for FY 2009. The letter closes on Thursday, April 24, so contact your Senator this very moment. Currently Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), John Warner (R-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Carl Levin (D-MI), Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Joseph Lieberman (D Independent-CT) have signed on.

New Yorkers, note that Sen. Chuck Schumer hasn't yet signed the letter, so his office could definitely use your call!

Here's what to do:

1. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and ask to be transferred to your Senator's office. (Don't know who your Senator is? Visit www.senate.gov to find out.)

2. Ask to speak to the staffer in your Senator's office who handles housing issues.
3. Tell the staffer about the importance of Section 8 in providing housing for people with HIV/AIDS in your community.
4. Ask the Senator to sign on to the letter. If the staffer wants more information, Amanda Beaumont is staffing the letter for Feingold and Jen Capriola is staffing the letter for Collins.
5. Please let NAHC know the results of your call by e-`mailing Latoya Thomas at latoya@nationalaidshousing.org.

Click the link below to see the text of the letter:

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April 18, 2008

THE HILL WAS ALIVE

Rep. Fortuño and González talk Puerto Rico

They spoke in three different languages but when they got together to educate key members of Congress about AIDS policy on Monday and Tuesday this week, the 2008 Cylar Awardees spoke in perfect harmony. Gloria González, Esther Boucicault, Diane Williams, and Health GAP's Paul Davis and Asia Russell were in D.C. as part of a whirlwind of events surrounding the fourth-annual Keith D. Cylar Activist Awards, which took place yesterday evening (look for a full report in next week’s Update). The Awards are given to remarkable AIDS activists from around the world in honor of Housing Works cofounder Keith Cylar, who died of complications from AIDS in 2004.

In Creole, Spanish and English, respectively, Boucicault, González, Williams, Russell and Davis talked to lawmakers and their staffers about the need for funding for qualified health care workers in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the urgency of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) overseeing Ryan White funds in embattled Puerto Rico, a national strategy to end AIDS and an end to the federal ban on needle exchange. Some 35 Housing Works clients accompanied the Cylar Awardees in D.C. and made their own Hill visits to talk about the Early Treatment for HIV/AIDS Act, HASA for All, improved Medicaid—and other policy changes to that impact poor people living with AIDS...

Read the rest: "THE HILL WAS ALIVE"

The Housing Works AIDS Issues Update is reported, written and edited by Diana Scholl, David Thorpe, Phil Fox Rose, Christine Campbell, terri smith-caronia and Housing Works staff. Send your feedback, leads and story ideas to d.scholl@housingworks.org.

You can reach us by phone at 212-967-1500 x168, by fax at 212-868-4222, and by email at d.scholl@housingworks.org. Housing Works provides housing, advocacy and services to homeless people living with AIDS and HIV. Housing Works is the nation's largest community-based AIDS organization and the nation's largest minority-controlled AIDS organization.

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