• 09
  • February
    2011

Housing advocates in New York City are doing the best they can to push through a bill that would provide rent caps for those living with HIV/AIDS-in effect, keeping the cost of shelter down for a group of extremely vulnerable people, as vulnerable as others who deal with significant medical impairments and depend on sources of income like Social Security Disability to make ends meet.

As reported by City Limits News, the original bill was proposed in 2006 and made it through the legislature in 2009, only to perish under then-Governor David Paterson's veto. The bill, estimated to cost $20 million, was viewed by Paterson as an "unfunded mandate."

But some predict that a rent cap keeping people in stable housing would actually save New York $16 million by avoiding the costs associated with evictions, not to mention the benefits of stable housing: a place to live, do one's best to stay healthy, and avoid risky behaviors.

After all, HIV/AIDS is the number one cause of death for those who must turn to shelters for housing.

As housing advocate Sean Barry says, "It's a communicable disease. It affects your immune system. It's deadly for homeless people with AIDS to enter the homeless shelters."

Housing advocates are hoping to pass the rent cap bill under current Governor Andrew Cuomo. Barry says, "Cuomo's record on affordable housing is one of his biggest assets with progressives and low-income African-Americans and Latinos."

The bigger issue is stable housing for all. As reported by City Limits News, one recent study indicated that chronic illness is the root cause of half of all home foreclosures.

Source: As AIDS Threat Changes, Push for Housing Renews