06.27.08 - San Francisco AIDS Foundation applauds first step to restore HIV/AIDS housing

“We went to work educating lawmakers on the critical role of stable housing for people living with HIV and AIDS,” said Ernest Hopkins, Director of Federal Affairs for the Foundation. “There is a direct correlation between housing and adherence to anti-HIV medication and maintaining overall health. The cap targeted those most vulnerable to homelessness, mental illness, and faster disease progression.”

To enact this change, Hopkins collaborated with Nancy Bernstine, executive director for the National AIDS Housing Coalition (where he serves as Policy Chair), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D–Conn) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif).

According to the Coalition, as many as 60% of people living with HIV have been homeless at some point since their diagnosis because of stigma and rising housing costs.

The federally funded RWCA, first passed in 1991 and reauthorized in 2006, provides essential services, including medication and housing, to more than 530,000 people living with HIV/AIDS who could not otherwise afford them. Housing subsidies account for just 1.45% of the total $29 million RWCA funds.

The subsidies originally provided temporary homes for people who were dying from AIDS-related conditions. With the advent of protease inhibitors, many people live with HIV for years, often with lingering and debilitating conditions that affect their ability to earn a living or live independently. In 2006, the Health Resources and Services Administration imposed a two-year retroactive lifetime cap on these housing subsidies which finally went into effect in March of 2008.

Of the five eligible metropolitan areas dispersing RWCA housing subsidies—New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco—only San Francisco provided city funds in the amount of $3.8 million to avoid having to turn many of the city’s approximately 500 RWCA housing subsidy recipients out into the streets. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation provides direct services to 400 of them.

Removal of the housing cap may allow cities to restore housing subsidies to those who need them. In San Francisco, it will enable the city to spare funds for other HIV/AIDS services, many of which are currently facing cutbacks of 22% or more. 

“This is a victory for scientific evidence,” said Mark Cloutier, the Foundation’s CEO. “We made the case for the growing body of research that links stable housing to better health for people living with HIV, and we succeeded in getting legislators to listen.”