September 21, 2007

ALL OUT FOR HASA FOR ALL

Smile at Quinn on Tuesday

This Tuesday September 25 you've got the chance to join hundreds of people with HIV and allies in a New York City rally and demonstration on the steps of City Hall — arrive at 12:30 sharp!— to urge City Council members to pass "HASA for All" legislation to get enhanced housing, support services and public benefits coordination to poor HIV-positive people before they get expensive and destructive advanced illnesses. HASA for All sponsor Annabel Palma will address the crowd, along with other leaders, activists, and everyday people living with HIV/AIDS.

Early this month Palma introduced HASA For All legislation in the Council, and it's crucial for the health of New Yorkers living with HIV her bill win co-sponsors, support from leadership, and passage through the full Council this Fall. Council Speaker Christine Quinn is currently looking over the hoards of research that shows that housing is necessary to effective HIV prevention and treatment, but she hasn't yet decided if she will support HASA for All.

"People who are HIV-positive need the Council's help," said Shirlene Cooper, co-director of the New York City AIDS Housing Network. "Council members have the power and the tools to get this passed. They just need the will."

Cooper is HIV-positive herself, and she remembers the struggles of trying to survive without stable housing. "I've told Speaker Quinn about my story, and about how many people are out there living with HIV and living in the streets," she says. "Now Speaker Quinn has the research she wanted. Everything she's asked us for, we've given her. Now HASA for All is long overdue. We're hoping she'll rule in our favor."

The list of HASA for All supporters is growing each week: 39 organizational supporters of HASA for All have recently been joined by the New York City HIV Prevention Planning Group and the HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council of New York, which sent Quinn this letter . "Here are mayoral bodies saying that housing is in fact prevention, and that they see the efficacy of expanding housing and support services for people who are HIV positive or asymptomatic," said New York City organizer terri smith-caronia, director of New York City public policy for Housing Works.

Current regulations for the NYC HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) require applicants to have an AIDS diagnosis in order to be eligible for benefits, meaning a person living with HIV must reach a T-cell count of 200 or below or be diagnosed with an opportunistic infection. According to HASA, approximately 31,000 people are currently receiving benefits, about one-third of all New Yorkers diagnosed with HIV. At least another 8,000 people with HIV cannot receive needed assistance because they have not been diagnosed with AIDS and are not considered "sick enough" for HASA. Some have resorted to desperate measures-including discontinuing medication regimens-in order to drop their T-cell count and obtain an AIDS diagnosis.

Several recent studies, including a collaborative Housing and Health Study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have confirmed that housing stability promotes adherence to life-saving medications and more efficacious health care for those who are living with HIV, and actually reduces risk behavior, therefore preventing further HIV transmission. Another study, from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, reports that promoting housing as HIV care and prevention will save millions of dollars in the long run in health care costs and shelter provision. HASA for All is simply sound public health and economic policy.

"The bottom line is people shouldn't be denied help from the city because they're not sick enough yet," said Kristin Goodwin, community organizer for public policy at GMHC's Action Center.

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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