SUPES HOLD HEARING ON AIDS HOUSING

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors held a special hearing last
week to discuss city plans to offset federal cuts to funding that
helps provide housing for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Officials said they hope the discussion is a beginning to an eventual
comprehensive housing plan in San Francisco.

Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty introduced a resolution at
the June 12 hearing calling on the Department of Public Health to
establish an HIV/AIDS housing working group to work with relevant
city agencies, community stakeholders and members of the board to
establish the plan.

During the hearing supervisors heard testimony from various agency
representatives and the public on how the funding cuts and lack of
housing impact those struggling to live with the virus.

Proposed federal funding cuts are just beginning to affect housing
monies appropriated through federal Housing Opportunities for People
With AIDS program and the Ryan White CARE Act. Those cuts are
expected to have a bigger impact for housing providers over the next
three to five years.

"We are here to discuss how San Francisco can respond to the crisis
that will occur" as these cuts continue, said Ammiano.

Dufty said, "San Francisco is facing a challenge in the housing
market that will have a deep impact for people with disabilities,
especially those living with HIV/AIDS, many of whom may be faced with
making a choice of either healthcare or housing."

Jimmy Loyce, deputy director at the Department of Public Health, said
the federal legislation requires some money the city is now using to
find housing to go to core medical needs.

"Here in San Francisco we have been interpreting that broadly" to
mean housing also, said Loyce. But he added that he did not know how
much longer the city could interpret the funding in such a manner in
face of the federal cuts. Despite the impact the cuts have already
had, Loyce said the city is still a model for success in providing
housing for people with HIV/AIDS.

The city currently maintains the housing wait list. Established in
1995, there are currently over 2,400 names on the list waiting for
help with housing, officials said. Mark Trotz, director of housing
and urban health for DPH, said that only about 50 to 75 people each
year come off the wait list.

"We are working on a solution once the cuts take place," Trotz said.
He estimated that about 400 people currently being provided housing
may be impacted, adding the "big drop-off" has not hit yet. He said
that so far the city has been able to backfill the money cut for
housing over the past three years.

"I am optimistic that we will come up with an alternative plan and we
are working with the other agencies to do so," he said.

Trotz estimated that about 10 percent to 12 percent of new AIDS cases
in San Francisco are homeless.

Brian Basinger, director of the AIDS Housing Alliance, said at the
hearing that statistics show that homeless people with AIDS die at
five times the rate as those who are able to maintain housing. He
said studies show that there is a direct correlation with people who
lose their housing and people who lose access to the proper medication.

"I hope we can come to some rational process for resource allocation
based on the scientific data," Basinger said. "Housing is harm reduction."

Basinger added that statistics show that once housing is provided for
those in need, other risky behaviors, such as unsafe sex and drug
abuse are also cut in half.

"We no longer track if AIDS is the number one reason why gay men die
in San Francisco, but I certainly suspect it is," he said.

The resolution calls for the working group to establish a
comprehensive plan to be established by the Department of Public
Health and to meet for the first time no later than August 1.

The group's findings will then be presented to the Board of
Supervisors for further consideration.