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Testimony to Assembly Oversight
Hearing
December 21, 2006
- Photos from the Press
Conference and March
Good morning. My name is Marjorie Hill; I am the Chief Executive
Officer at Gay Men's Health Crisis. I want to thank the Assembly
for this opportunity to testify, and in particular Deborah Glick
for her tireless support of people living with HIV and AIDS. GMHC
is the nation's oldest AIDS service organization. Last year, we
served more than 15,000 New Yorkers living with or at risk of HIV
and AIDS. GMHC's staff provides comprehensive services that include
testing, financial advocacy, meals, legal assistance, permanency
planning, mental health counseling and public education. I am here
today to speak on the HIV/AIDS Service Administration, or HASA,
and housing support for people living with AIDS.
Many of GMHC's clients receive benefits through HASA. The additional
financial benefit and housing access provided by HASA are literally
life-saving: stable housing and adequate financial support for
nutrition and transportation are invaluable for people living with
HIV to consistently access much needed medical care and services.
As many of you know, under pressure from an audit from the Office
of Temporary and Disability Assistance, HASA announced a budget
recalculation leading to large, sudden cuts to the monthly incomes
of 2,200 New Yorkers living with AIDS. These cuts are egregious
and criminal.
Income and housing benefits are life and death issues for people
living with HIV and AIDS. These benefits have been linked to significant
reductions in high-risk behaviors and drug use, and improvements
in adherence to medical treatment. Our participants' lives show
the close links between poverty, stress and a deterioration of
health for people living with HIV and AIDS.
While these cuts have been halted by a temporary legal injunction,
this has opened a broader set of questions on HASA benefits. We
thank the Assembly for considering the plight of New Yorkers living
with HIV and AIDS, and using this hearing as an opportunity to
make long-overdue changes in state legislative and administrative
policy.
We recommend three major changes evoked by these recent cuts:
- We call on OTDA to negotiate a settlement to lift the injunction
and immediately cease from placing any pressure on HASA to move
forward with these cuts. This recommendation is simple and urgent.
We ask the state to forgo the current legal battle by dropping
the insistence on moving these cuts forward.
- Second, we call on the state to change current law and mandate
HASA honor a 30% cap on recipient income towards rent. Many people
receive HASA in addition to other benefits or income, including
SSI, SSDI, veteran's benefits and income from work. We strongly
recommend New York State follow the Federal HUD policy that people
pay at most 30% of their income towards rent for HASA clients.
OTDA's audit correctly recognized that some HASA recipients who
have other forms of income are on a budget of $330/month, while
others pay 30% of their income towards rent. Rather than slash
the monthly income of people with AIDS already living in poverty,
we call on HASA to instead standardize their budgeting system
by bringing all clients up to a 30% income towards rent cap.
Benefit discrepancy based on housing motivates many clients to
stay in housing based on income and budgeting, and not what is
most appropriate for their needs. By standardizing budgeting
for HASA clients receiving other benefits to a 30% income towards
rent cap, recipients could make decisions based on the services
that would best fit their lives.
As well as making HASA policy more consistent, this would simplify
and standardize policies for the many supportive housing providers
who receive both HASA and federal support. Income supports provided
by other benefits is crucial for the well-being and health of
HASA recipients. HASA recipients who meet the medical criteria
for SSI and SSDI have specific medical needs for additional financial
support. Those HASA recipients able to work should be rewarded
by being able to keep 70% of their income, rather than needing
to pay more than half towards rent. GMHC calls on the Assembly
Social Services Committee to take steps towards assuring a 30%
cap on income towards rent for all HASA recipients.
- Lastly, $11 a day is simply not enough for a person living
with AIDS to survive. The HASA benefit allocation of $330 per
month has remained exactly the same for 20 years, and
has not been adjusted for the dramatic increases of cost of living
in New York City during that time period. This $330 per month
is long overdue for a significant increase that reflects the
actual day to day needs of many people living with AIDS. According
to national cost of living adjustments, a $330 a month benefit
in 1986 would today come to $607.61; the cost of living adjustment
in New York would be much higher.
We recognize that increasing this monthly benefit of $330 amount
of HASA recipients could be linked to a broader raising of Public
Assistance awards and the Emergency Shelter Grant, affecting
HRA clients who are not on HASA. We support raising each of these
benefit allocations. We recognize that the flat benefits towards
any New Yorkers living in poverty fuels the HIV epidemic.
Together, these would help provide much needed support and stability
to New Yorkers hard hit by poverty and AIDS.
Poverty and unstable housing are major drivers of HIV transmission,
and have a devastating impact on the health and well-being of people
living with HIV. By working towards these three steps, the Assembly
has a powerful opportunity to address the long neglected needs
of New Yorkers living with AIDS.
Thank you.
© 2006 Gay Men's Health Crisis
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