HIV AND LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY MEMBERS CALL FOR ACTION IN THE FINAL NYS BUDGET TO CONFRONT FEDERAL ATTACKS THREATENING HARD-WON PROGRESS

A Petition Signed by Over 400 Community Members Ignored in Executive Budget Proposal

Members of New York’s HIV and LGBTQ+ communities urgently call on Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature to enact a final budget that meaningfully confronts an escalating wave of federal attacks that threaten decades of progress in HIV prevention, care, and health equity.

We strongly agree with Governor Hochul’s State of the State expression of the “simple belief” that “government should make life more affordable, keep people safe, and expand opportunity – not shrink it.”

In December, more than 400 members of the HIV and LGBTQ+ communities delivered a petition to Governor Hochul calling for concrete budget actions to demonstrate New York State’s ongoing commitment to Ending the HIV Epidemic. The petition called for sustained funding for proven HIV/AIDS programs, affordable housing for people with HIV experiencing homelessness, and investments to ensure equitable access to HIV prevention tools, including pre exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Our communities have never been in greater need for New York State leadership. We face an unprecedented series of federal attacks on Medicaid, erosion of the national public health infrastructure, instability in funding for programs key to achieving the end of the epidemic like healthcare, housing, and harm reduction, and federal actions targeting LGBTQ+ communities already disproportionately impacted by HIV. Together, these attacks place lives at risk and jeopardize New York’s ability to sustain its progress toward Ending the Epidemic.

We are grateful that the FY2027 Executive Budget sustains level funding for core Ending the Epidemic and NYS Department of Health AIDS Institute programs and services that have driven progress towards our historic Ending the Epidemic goals, enabling us to “bend the curve” of our HIV/AIDS epidemic in 2019 so that the number of New Yorkers with HIV finally began to decline after decades of increases.

Deeply disappointing, however, is the failure once again to include in the Executive Budget two life-saving and cost-effective initiatives—to provide all local social services districts the option to house public assistance eligible people with HIV experiencing homelessness or housing instability using the long-standing NYS HIV Emergency Shelter Allowance program currently available only in New York City; and to invest in the efforts required to advance equitable access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which is not reaching those most vulnerable to HIV infection.

We simply cannot meet our Ending the Epidemic goals without addressing housing insecurity and PrEP inequity. Overall progress is not reaching every community and stark disparities in HIV outcomes persist, with rates of new HIV diagnoses in 2024 among Black and Latino New Yorkers 9.2 and 5.4 times higher than the rate for White New Yorkers. More troubling is the fact that new HIV diagnoses have increased for the third year in a row – in contrast with the yearly declines in new diagnoses in NYC prior to 2020. This increase is unacceptable given that medications to treat and prevent HIV are readily available if people can access them.

Specifically, we call on the Governor and the Legislature to include the following concrete actions in the final budget to signal New York State’s ongoing commitment and leadership to end the HIV epidemic in every population and community:

• Act to afford all NYS communities the option to provide rental subsidies to public assistance eligible households with HIV experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Since the statewide HIV Emergency Shelter Allowance benefit was established in the 1980s, it has been available only to people with HIV facing homelessness in NYC. As a result, as many as 2,800 households living with HIV outside NYC remain homeless or unstably housed—overwhelmingly LGBTQ, Black, and Hispanic New Yorkers disparately impacted by HIV and poverty.
• Invest in strategies to realize the full potential of HIV prevention by advancing equity in access and uptake of all PrEP modalities, including new long-acting injectables. Despite PrEP’s proven effectiveness, access and uptake remain deeply unequal, with Black and Hispanic New Yorkers representing 76% of new HIV diagnoses in 2023, but only 22% of PrEP prescriptions. New York must ensure broad, equitable access to all PrEP options, including one-a-day pills and bimonthly injections, to strengthen HIV prevention efforts statewide. Ultra-long-acting injectable PrEP, approved by the FDA this year, holds particularly transformative promise, requiring only two injections a year for 96% to 100% effectiveness in preventing HIV infection.

“I am proud to sponsor and champion equitable access to HIV housing assistance in New York State,” said Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson. “There exist stark and persistent disparities between HIV positive people who have stable housing and those who do not. Failure to address these inequities prevents us from reaching our goal to end the HIV epidemic in every New York community. As we face unprecedented challenges posed by actual and threatened federal funding cuts and attacks, there has never been a more important time for New York State to sustain and advance our efforts to end HIV as an epidemic.”

“The Buffalo and Erie County community I represent looks to New York State in this time of crisis at the federal level to ensure sustained and renewed efforts to end the HIV epidemic in all communities,” Senator April N.M. Baskin said. “We have made significant progress towards our Ending the Epidemic goals and must push forward and finish the job, including ensuring that public assistance-eligible households across the state have equitable access to the state's lifesaving program of HIV rental assistance."

“Our HIV and LGBTQ communities are facing many-layered threats to Medicaid, systems of care, and Ryan White and other federal funding sources that have been fundamental to the U.S. and New York HIV responses—in addition to attacks on the essential rights of members of our community,” said Charles King, Chief Executive Officer at Housing Works, and Co-Chair of the NYS AIDS Advisory Council Ending the Epidemic Sub-Committee. “We urgently need to know that the Governor and the State are committed to sustained progress towards our Ending the Epidemic goals.”

"LGBTQ+ New Yorker continue to face repeated attacks from the federal government," said Amanda Babine of Equality New York. "That is why we are calling on our New York State leadership to demonstrate their commitment to our community by stepping up to make sure that every low-income New Yorker with HIV has a safe place to live, treatment, and access to the full range of HIV prevention modalities."

“While New York has made measurable progress toward Ending the Epidemic, stark disparities in HIV outcomes persist for Black and Latino New Yorkers,” said Shirley Torho, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Black Health Leadership Commission on Health (Black Health). “In the face of a federal retreat from health equity, sustained and proactive New York State leadership is essential to advance equitable HIV prevention, care, and treatment for all affected communities.”

“We have long understood that housing is healthcare for people with HIV, and that without a safe, stable place to live it’s not possible to fully benefit from HIV treatment, sustain health, or prevent new infections,” said Perry Junjulas, Executive Director of the Albany Damien Center. “Continuing to deny this benefit in Albany and other communities outside NYC is fundamentally unfair, perpetuates HIV health inequities, undermines the State’s ability to end our HIV epidemic, and costs the State millions in avoidable Medicaid spending on crisis care and new HIV infections.”

“At Evergreen Health in Buffalo we are grateful that we can count on the continued commitment from New York State’s leadership to sustain Ending the Epidemic funding,” said Mike Lee, Chief Operating Officer at Evergreen Health. “We call for the additional investments needed to end homelessness among people with HIV throughout the State and to expand access to HIV prevention. Our state has made historic progress, but much remains to be done to end this epidemic in every New York population and community.”

“HIV prevention is an essential component of our plan to end New York’s HIV epidemic,” said Kimberleigh Smith, Executive Vice President of Public Policy and Communications at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. “We simply can’t realize the potential of PrEP – including game-changing long acting injectables – until we invest in the culturally tailored PrEP education, navigation, and services needed to reach the communities most vulnerable to HIV infection.”

"In Rochester we are fully committed to ending the HIV epidemic," said Mary Beth Walker, Trillium Health’s Vice President of Marketing, Government Relations, and Public Relations. "New York State has long been a leader in HIV prevention and treatment, and we are extremely grateful to Governor Hochul for including funding for these efforts in her Executive Budget. Additionally, we hope that the final enacted budget will include housing assistance for people living with HIV and investments to support the widespread use of PrEP to prevent new HIV infections."

"Here in Syracuse and across Central New York, we see how sustained state leadership saves lives and strengthens communities,” said Lisa Alford, Chief Executive Officer at ACR Health. “We’re grateful that core Ending the Epidemic funding is being sustained, but we’re disappointed that rest-of-state HIV housing and new PrEP equity investments were not included. As federal support becomes increasingly uncertain, New York must reaffirm its commitment by investing in safe housing and prevention strategies that reach the communities most impacted.”

The End AIDS New York Community Coalition is a group of over 90 health care centers, hospitals, and community-based organizations across the State committed to realizing the goals of our historic New York State Blueprint for Ending the Epidemic, a set of evidence-based recommendations for ending AIDS as an epidemic in all New York communities and populations.

Contact: Ginny Shubert, Housing Works, g.shubert@housingworks.org, (917) 834-6089