April 26, 2007
LETTER PERFECT
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Marching for HASA for All during ACT UP's 20th Anniversary. |
Two weeks ago City Council Speaker Christine Quinn publicly announced her opposition to the “HASA for All” campaign that seeks to extend HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) benefits to all low-income people with HIV. Dozens of prominent community-based organizations and AIDS service organizations are hoping to persuade Quinn to reconsider her misguided stance by signing a letter in support of HASA for ALL. So far, 18 groups including Housing Works, GMHC, ACT UP, New York City AIDS Housing Network, New York AIDS Commission, CitiWide Harm Reduction, and National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, have signed on.
“It's important to get as many organizations to sign the letter as possible,” says Derrick Chandler, Housing Works’ New York City advocacy community organizer. “When we start meeting with individual City Council members, we can show that a large number of important groups agree that this is vital legislation to ending the AIDS epidemic in New York.”
9,000 in need
The letter provides a brief overview of the HASA for All campaign, which seeks to expand HASA benefits—including enhanced rental assistance and increased food and nutrition funding—to all low-income, HIV positive, asymptomatic individuals. Currently, only people who have an AIDS diagnosis or one or two opportunistic infections are eligible for HASA.
“The City's Department of Health study found that the No. 1 killer of women struggling to survive in the DHS shelter system is AIDS. It is the No. 2 killer of men in the shelters,” reads the letter. “That means that 11 percent of all homeless HIV positive individuals in the city are being sent to the shelters because they are not yet eligible for HASA benefits... This problem is exactly the kind of barrier to care that HASA was created to get rid of.”
If the HASA for All campaign is successful, approximately 9,000 HIV-positive New Yorkers will receive medically appropriate emergency and permanent housing, a significant increase in individual public assistance grants, and greatly improve their standard of living—ensuring a longer, healthier life.
Here is the full list of organizations that have signed on to the letter supporting HASA for All:
- New York City AIDS Housing Network
- NYAC
- ACT-UP
- CitiWide Harm Reduction
- GMHC
- Care for the Homeless
- National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS
- Housing Works, Inc.
- Balm in Gilead
- Women in Prison
- Betances Health Center
- Boriken Neighborhood Health Center
- Bronx AIDS Services
- Brooklyn AIDS Task Force
- CAMBA
- Coalition for the Homeless
- Community Healthcare Network
- East New York Diagnostic & Treatment Center
To learn more about the letter or add your organization to the list of supporters, e-mail Derrick Chandler at chandler@housingworks.org.
To get involved in HASA for All, contact terri smith-caronia at smith-caronia@housingworks.org.