Bloomberg and Ferrer's Visions to Address the HIV/AIDS Epidemic
On November 8, New Yorkers will elect a mayor. Gay Men's Health Crisis asked the two
lead candidates — Michael Bloomberg and Fernando Ferrer — for their priorities in
addressing AIDS and HIV in the city.
AIDS and HIV infection continue to constitute a public health crisis here in New
York City. With by far more reported cases of AIDS and HIV infection than any other
city, New York City is the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States. The response
to HIV/AIDS will need to be a priority of the next Mayor over the coming four years, which
will include the 25th year of the epidemic.
To help inform people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, and the general public,
Gay Men's Health Crisis has asked each of the Mayoral candidates to state his views on
New York's response to HIV/AIDS. Here GMHC posts the responses unedited. GMHC does not
endorse any candidate or the particular views of a candidate. Our purpose here is strictly
to provide a guide to potential voters in the upcoming election on an important public health
issue.
The order on the responses is determined alphabetically.
GMHC asked both Ferrer and Bloomberg the following question:
What would be the vision and priorities of your administration over the next
four years to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic? In responding, we ask each candidate
to address the issues of health care and access to health care for people living
with HIV, HIV prevention, housing and other support services, funding for HIV-related
programs and services, and the needs of populations disproportionately affected by
HIV/AIDS.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg:
Fighting HIV and AIDS has been a top priority of my Administration. During
the past four years, overall funding has increased significantly and these resources
have been dedicated to enhancing programs citywide for the treatment and prevention
of HIV and AIDS. Special initiatives have been targeted at reaching women and communities
of color which are among the highest at risk. And, this past year, I was fortunate to
have the opportunity to speak at Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem where I discussed
the Administration's efforts in this area.
The City has made significant progress in leading the fight for HIV and AIDS
prevention by channeling more and new resources to innovative programs and options. These
advances in funding have not just been achieved through the allocation of more local tax
dollars to these programs-though I have baselined $5 million in additional funding for
HIV/AIDS services-but also in our ability to leverage significant new Federal resources,
including Ryan White Title I funding in the amount of $122 million (which represented the
largest grant in the City's history and an $18.2 million increase over the previous year's
grant), and $33 million from the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Programmatically, and connected to the City's wide range of community-based medical
and educational programs about HIV and AIDS, progress has been made in the City's utilization
of Rapid HIV Testing, which is now available at all of the City's walk-in STD clinics, (all
of which provide free and confidential HIV and STD testing throughout the five boroughs) HHC
acute care hospitals, Riker's Island, and City homeless shelters. The City has also increased
the number of licensed syringe exchange programs in the City and embarked on a free condom
initiative under which organizations can request free condoms and lubricant from DOHMH for
community distribution. Further, we are fighting to end the crystal meth epidemic that has
led to too many new infections by supporting prevention campaigns and treatment programs.
In addition, the City's HIV-AIDS Services Administration (HASA), managed through the
HRA, serves 31,000 clients with HIV and AIDS, and 14,000 affected families, by providing
assistance with housing and the full range of necessary benefits, case management and home
care. I recently appointed members to the City's HASA Advisory Board, which includes the
first chair, Steve Hemraj, who is a first rate leader and advisor on HIV and AIDS issues in
the community. In 2004, we cut the ribbon on the first HASA model office, a fully redesigned
and state of the art service center, and since then three of HASA's locations have been
converted to model offices, with the remainder to be converted shortly. Under my Administration,
HASA has made so much progress in providing benefits and services to people with HIV and AIDS
and their families, that a judicial order monitoring HASA, which predated my Administration,
was not renewed. Since then, we have worked with the parties to that lawsuit to continue
that progress, and I recently signed three pieces of HASA related legislation, now being
implemented, to create a Single Point of Access for all HASA housing, to expedite moving
HASA clients from emergency to non-emergency housing and to expand the public reporting of
data on HASA services.
It should be noted that in addition to a series of mass media and other promotional
campaigns to raise HIV and AIDS awareness, I have also used, and will continue to use,
World AIDS Day and National HIV Testing Day to get the message out about the importance
of preventing HIV and AIDS.
I am committed to doing even more to fight the AIDS epidemic in the next four
years and my Commission on HIV/AIDS recently released recommendations which, when
implemented, will make New York City the national and global model for HIV/AIDS
preservation and control. "Take Care New York", the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene's ambitious health policy agenda, has set the clear, measurable goal of
preventing the spread of HIV and reducing the number of HIV related deaths by nearly
half by 2008. This would prevent more than 700 deaths a year. In order to meet this
goal, we will launch a major new initiative to make voluntary testing a routine part
of every patient's care at HHC hospitals and other facilities throughout the City.
Fernando Ferrer:
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this important topic. We need a comprehensive
approach to confront the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic in this City. As Mayor, my administration
will attack this disease and its effects on multiple fronts — to ensure that we do everything
possible both to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and to care for those who are living with the
disease.
Housing
I recognize the pressing need for affordable housing in our City, which is why I
have put forth a comprehensive plan to build and preserve 167,000 affordable units. Included
in that total are 10,000 units of supportive housing for individuals who need support services
where they live.
In addition, we need to ensure that the City devotes the federal dollars intended
to provide housing opportunities for people with AIDS for exactly that purpose. As
such, we need to completely undo the so-called “HOPWA Swap” which has effectively
deprived people with AIDS of the vital resources they need for affordable housing. The
City diverts $25 million per year in federal funds away from housing needs, and Mike
Bloomberg's promise to restore only $5 million per year is not enough.
I also favor funding increases for rental assistance, as this assistance only
remains effective if it keeps pace with the increases in the marketplace. We should
not be denying these increases that help individuals with HIV/AIDS maintain permanent
housing when we have evidence, in the form of a recent report by Comptroller Thompson,
that the City has spent more than $2 million over the past two years on questionable
payments for temporary housing for people with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, conservative
estimates are that, at the beginning of the year, the City lacked more than 2,400 housing
units needed for people with HIV/AIDS. We must not increase the number of individuals
with HIV/AIDS who cannot afford a place to live by failing to maintain rental assistance
at adequate levels.
Healthcare and Healthcare Access
During my time in the City Council and as the Bronx Borough President, I worked
continuously to improve healthcare through community based partnership. The Bronx Health
Link, for instance, partnered hospitals and community organizations to identify and target
health needs in the borough. I also focused on the issue of healthcare disparity in communities
of color. I will bring this same commitment to the entire City as the Mayor.
Today, roughly 1.8 million New Yorkers are without healthcare — a staggeringly
high and appallingly unacceptable number. That is why I have a plan to insure all
of New York's children and at least 200,000 of the adults in the City who are eligible
for public insurance, but not currently enrolled. Furthermore, I have called for additional
investment in community health clinics that serve New York's most underserved communities.
I will also ensure that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene works with, rather
than dictates to, existing community groups in doing outreach and education to communities
of color that are disproportionately effected by HIV and AIDS. Additionally, I know that
advocacy groups like Gay Men's Health Crisis and many others worked incredibly hard with
the City Council to ensure that the Community of Color initiative would receive the funding
it needed this year. As Mayor, I will work to ensure that the City continues to meet
those funding needs.
Social Services & Prevention
While we have seen some improvement in bringing down wait times at the HIV/AIDS Service
Administration in Manhattan, waits remain too long in other boroughs. As Mayor, I will
work to ensure that waiting times are lowered in each center throughout the City and that
resources are equitably distributed so that all New Yorkers who needed HIV/AIDS services
would receive equal treatment.
I also believe we need to do a better job to ensure that effective HIV/AIDS
prevention methods are not undermined. This means making sure that the NYPD follows
the letter and spirit of Operations Orders 23 and 75 so that needle exchange program
participants are not harassed or intimidated for their participation.
We also need to ensure that New York City's schools follow City and state mandates
on HIV education — including health lessons and condom demonstrations in middle
and high school classrooms.
© 2005 Gay Men's Health Crisis |
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