May 11, 2007
TAKING NAMES
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Housing for people with HIV/AIDS is in the city's hands |
The HASA for All campaign, which seeks to expand eligibility for HIV/AIDS Services (HASA) benefits, is continuing to garner momentum with a "Letter of Support" that is circulating among a wide range of the city's community-based organizations. The total number of signers has reached 21 (see complete list below).
"We know that a huge number of people who don't qualify for HASA benefits still can't afford housing—that puts them in a very precarious situation," says Michael Wernham, an HIV/AIDS program director at the Partnership for the Homeless, which recently added its name to the support letter. "It can only benefit us all if we move toward being inclusive."
Under HASA's current system, only folks diagnosed with AIDS (or two AIDS-defining illnesses) are eligible for full rental assistance benefits and increased food and nutrition allowances. The HASA for All campaign is asking city officials to amend Local Law 49 so that all low-income asymptomatic people with HIV are eligible for those same benefits. 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.
"When people have housing and other kinds of care, they're less likely to engage in activities that put others at risk, and their overall health will be improved," explains Sean Barry, director of prevention policy for Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, which also recently signed on to the letter of support. "We talk all the time about the human right to housing and health care, but we rarely have the opportunity to join a campaign that would have such a dramatic impact on the epidemic."
To the surprise of some who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her when was she was making a name for herself as a housing advocate, City Council Speaker Quinn has opposed rather than championed HASA for All. While advocates maintains that expanding HASA eligibility would cost at most $68 million (and eventually pay for itself), Quinn has recently been quoted as saying it would cost between $75 and $100 million — even though her own finance staff helped come up with the $68 million figure. "I understand her position," says Wernham "but we need to have more dialogue with the Speaker and the Council to convince them that the cost shouldn't stand in the way of providing lifesaving services." Barry is blunter. "We expected more leadership and loyalty to the AIDS community," he says.
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
- Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project
- Partnership for the Homeless
- Project Hospitality
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.