Not Going Down Without a Fight
NYCAHN advocates hope to stop Bloomberg from killing AIDS housing
Restoring cuts to supportive housing for New Yorkers with AIDS won’t happen without a fight. With the clock ticking, advocates are looking to the Mayor to use federal stimulus dollars—and are hoping for an assist from New York City Council.
“The administration and the Council has to have the will to prioritize reducing homelessness in New York City,” said New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) Director Sean Barry. NYCAHN held a faux funeral procession last Friday outside the Human Resources Administration and City Hall to demand that Mayor Bloomberg restore cuts to HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) supportive housing.
Advocates are eyeing a piece of the $74 million in federal stimulus funding called the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program to prevent some of these AIDS housing cuts. The funding was allocated to the City by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and will be administered through the Department of Homeless Services (DHS).
The cuts to AIDS services are relatively small in dollar amount, though not in impact. One Bloomberg proposal would completely eliminate the Scatter Site 2 program, which helps homeless PLWHAs transition to permanent housing. A second proposal would slash supportive housing (congregate and Scatter Site 1 programs) staff in half. Advocates are proposing different options to the Mayor regarding how to save these crucial programs. The total cost of both of these programs is less than $6 million
HRA acknowledges value of Scatter Site?
In the past HRA staffers have stuck to the party line that HASA case managers and community case workers have “duplicative roles,” but in a meeting last week with advocates, HRA Commissioner Robert Doar stated that the two programs “compliment” each other.
“It was great to hear that Commissioner Doar realizes that both programs do valuable work,” said Housing Works Director of New York Policy and Organizing Kristin Goodwin.
DHS, meet HRA
Restoring the housing cuts is an uphill battle. The Mayor has already spent one billion dollars of federal Medicaid stimulus dollars filling up budget holes unrelated to health care. In a forum with the supportive housing advocates Monday, a DHS representative seemed skeptical of advocates’ idea to use the HUD funding to stave off cuts to case management for people living in supportive housing.
“We’re trying to serve as many people as possible, not so much to identify specific subpopulations [that could use the funding],” said Ellen Howard-Cooper, DHS deputy commissioner of prevention said at a meeting of supportive housing providers Monday. She was responding to a question about a small portion of federal Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP).
The HPRP funding is intended to reduce homelessness and will be allocated by DHS to other city agencies. Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs has the final say on how to spend federal stimulus money for homelessness prevention. At the Monday meeting of supportive housing providers, DHS said it wouldn’t announce publicly which “sisters agencies” would be receiving the funding until May. And a DHS staffer’s response to a question about using the funding for restoring Scatter Site funding was vague.
AIDS advocates are also calling on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to use HHAP funding to invest $1.5 million in eviction prevention legal services for low-income people with AIDS. DOHMH is receiving funding from the HPRP and is considering using some funding for this purpose.
“Of all of the cuts, I’m most optimistic that this will be restored,” Barry said.
Calling on Council
Advocates are also calling on City Council to take an active role in restoring cuts and demanding accountability for stimulus funding.
“There are billions of additional dollars coming into the City. The Council needs to speak up and have a say where this money is going,” Goodwin said.
The City Council has stated its concerns over cuts to supportive housing.
“We have had ongoing discussions with the Administration about stimulus funds that have already been secured and announced. However, we don’t comment on the specifics of budget negotiations while they are ongoing,” said City Council Deputy Press Secretary Anthony Hogrebe. “Potential cuts to case management in Scatter Site housing remains a concern for the Speaker. We’re currently exploring whether stimulus funds could be used for this purpose, and if not we’ll continue to look for other means of minimizing those cuts.”
Posted on April 23, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Share
Donate Today
Join our healing community by becoming a member today
