Guest blog post by Kristin Goodwin, Housing Works’ Director of NYC Policy and Organizing.
In a quiet release last week, the Mayor’s mid-year budget was posted onto the city’s website. And as the city still recovers from the impact of Sandy, Bloomberg is again planning a significant number of cuts to the budget.
Most notably, for those living with HIV/AIDS, the city has finally placed numbers on a planned policy change to HASA that was revealed in bits and pieces over the last year.
In particular, it has been revealed that HASA is going to change its policy around non-medically eligible members of households (adult children, partners, spouses), and will be instituting policies similar to the current standard public assistance program. This will include reduced levels of financial assistance and mandatory work requirements in order to maintain eligibility requirements.
This change was hinted at in last year’s World AIDS Day op-ed by Commissioner Robert Doar and a leaked memo that VOCAL-NY obtained in February from the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA). While many AIDS service organizations, CBOs, and activists truly understand the long-term and negative effects these policy changes will create, many simply (and willfully?) refuse to stray from antiquated and derogatory ideas and statements about people living with HIV/AIDS. This continuing stigmatizing sentiment is perhaps best highlighted by Kay S. Hymowitz’s scathing piece about people living with AIDS and her championing of the idealization of “personal responsibility.”
Not surprisingly, HASA has yet to put these policy changes in writing or discussed implementation with the community. Nevertheless, this budget proposal is a clear indication of their plan to move forward. The budget documents estimate that they will save $470,000 in what remains of FY12 and over $2.4 million in FY13 by enacting this change to HASA eligibility. Housing Works will continue to demand that HASA put these changes in writing.
Additionally, there is an item in the budget for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene indicating a cut to the budget of the HIV bureau, as well as layoffs, which the DOHMH has indicated may increase the time for partner notification services.
This budget cut is on top of the millions of dollars in cuts that have been proposed over the last few years, including massive cuts to supportive housing, brokers’ fees and cuts to funding for community-based services, to name a few. All of these cuts will remain on the table to be again saved by the City Council’s discretionary funding.
Make no mistake: we will have another budget fight on our hands this year!
As more information becomes available, we will continue to update.
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