The Advocacy Department provides timely, sophisticated, and in-depth policy analyses and recommendations, media advocacy, community organizing, education and training activities, and client legislative visits — the long-term goal of which is to establish AIDS, social welfare, and public health policies at all levels of government that are both sound in concept and equitable in administration.
Housing Works clients, volunteers, staff, and board members have a special commitment to advocacy and activism that aggressively challenge perceptions about homeless people living with HIV/AIDS, championing policies that improve their lives, and fighting policies that hurt them.
One advocacy tool is the weekly Housing Works AIDS Issues Update, a newsletter covering news and advocacy issues relating to housing, advocacy and services for homeless people living with AIDS and HIV, at the local, state, federal and global levels. It is distributed by e-mail weekly. (Subscribe to the weekly email Update.)
The Legal Services Department provides direct legal advice and assistance on matters such as landlord-tenant disputes, access to public assistance, child custody, preparation of wills and health care proxies, discrimination law, name changes, guardianship, and divorce proceedings, along with representation in "impact" litigation, i.e., cases of broad significance.
Contacts:
Advocacy
Michael Kink
Legislative Counsel
(518) 499-4207
Client Legal Services
Armen Merjian
Senior Staff Attorney (Client Legal Services)
(212) 967-1500 x154
AIDS Issues Update
Diana Scholl, Editor