The HASA for All Act, introduced in 2008 by City Council member Annabel Palma, would extend HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) benefits, including enhanced rental assistance and other lifesaving services, to all poor New Yorkers living with HIV.

Today, only people with an AIDS diagnosis (defined as individuals with a T-cell count of 200 or lower or two opportunistic infections) are eligible for those benefits. That distinction has prompted some poor people to allow themselves to become sick just to qualify for benefits. Advocates estimate that the HASA for All Act would help at least 7,000 people receive full HASA assistance.

Years of research indicate that housing is a cost-effective tool in HIV health care. That’s why it came as a shock when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, traditionally a housing advocate, opposed the HASA for All Act.

Despite Quinn’s opposition, Housing Works and fellow advocates are working to find funding for a research project that would provide the data to show that HASA for All is both cost-effective and will improve health outcomes.

• The City Budget

• Transgender Discrimination

• HASA Benefits for All