No End in Sight
World AIDS Day protest brought meeting to light
A groundbreaking meeting last week between D.C. AIDS activists and the D.C. Department of Health underscored the severity of the district’s housing woes.
The Friday meeting was in response to D.C. Fights Back’s protest outside the Housing and Urban Development offices on World AIDS Day demanding that HUD address D.C.‘s growing Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) waiting list. HUD provides the $11.5 million in HOPWA funding for the city, while the D.C. Department of Health manages the waiting list, which has grown to 278 people.
The D.C. DOH would not commit to housing people on the the waiting list and said that it expects the waiting list to grow as more people in need are identified.
Representatives from the DOH did delineate some improvements they are making:
- Rolling out an online database for all housing stock available in the D.C. by January 1, 2009.
- Streamlining admission for HOPWA housing and getting rid of the requirement that people need a case manager to get on the waiting list.
- Providing supportive services and skill-building for people on the waiting list.
- Continuing the Mayor’s edict to create new housing and house 800 “homeless neighbors” this year. So far 305 have been housed—53 with HIV or AIDS.
“As we’re focusing our efforts for people on the waiting list, we’re looking for other ways for them to get to get stable housing, such as through job training and other employment opportunities,” said D.C. DOH Communications and Community Outreach Bureau Chief Michael Kharfen.
Problems not addressed
“It’s not everything we want,” said D.C. Fights Back Cochair George Kerr, who attended the meeting. “We need to hear some concrete goals and objectives to get our homeless people living with AIDS into homes.” Kerr said the community also needs to educate people about the HOPWA waiting list and was encouraged by the D.C. DOH’s willingness to meet with people affected by HIV. D.C. Fights Back willl be strategizing how to continue moving forward this month.
The D.C. DOH believes that the growing HOPWA waiting list is, ironically enough, a positive sign that means that more people are aware of and attempting to utilize HOPWA benefits. Housing Works Vice President of National Advocacy and Organizing Christine Campbell, strongly disagreed. “I believe decreasing the housing list is an indicator of success,” she said. “If we can’t do anything with people once they’re there, it’s not going to encourage people to go on a waiting list.”
And the bottom line is that more affordable housing stock is needed in D.C., both for people with AIDS and without it.
D.C. faces an extreme and growing housing shortage. 25,000 people are on the waiting list for Section 8 vouchers. One out of 20 people in D.C. are living with HIV/AIDS, and more people are learning about their right to qualify for housing subsidies.
“The basic elephant in the room is we don’t have the bricks and mortar to house people living with AIDS and other disadvantaged people,” Campbell said.
Posted on December 10, 2008 at 12:35 am
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