GMHC Offering Housing For the First Time Ever

Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) announced today that for the first time, the agency will directly be offering housing with wraparound supportive services. GMHC has partnered with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA) program to take over a contract held for 25 units of scatter site housing in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx beginning October 1, 2016. The units are currently fully occupied with residents who will automatically become GMHC clients.

"It is our belief that housing equals healthcare and this new program will provide residents with the around-the-clock support needed to ensure treatment adherence, while simultaneously providing them with everything from legal services and case management to employment training and hot meals," said CEO Kelsey Louie. It is my hope that this program will be the first step in a long-term plan to expand housing opportunities for our clients at GMHC because we refuse to let HIV put people on the streets."

In addition to living with HIV, all current residents of these units were undocumented when they moved in. Some have gained legal status and GMHC will be able to provide immigration legal services to any other resident wishing to pursue legal status. Prior to 2010, federal immigration law prohibited people with HIV from even entering the country.

In 2010, the United States removed statutory and regulatory bans prohibiting people living with HIV from entering the country. This means that HIV status alone cannot be a reason for excluding, removing, or deporting a person from the United States.

Today's news follows an announcement back in June from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development that GMHC would be awarded $1,283,497 to implement an integrated housing assistance and supportive service program for low-income survivors of intimate partner violence who are living with HIV/AIDS.

GMHC's pilot program, called Safety in Housing, includes a partnership with the New York City Anti-Violence (AVP) and will serve up to 60 households, place 30 families in transitional or permanent housing, offer rental subsidies to 15 households, and provide short-term eviction prevention funds to 8 households annually in New York City.

Stable housing allows people living with HIV/AIDS to access comprehensive healthcare and adhere to complex HIV/AIDS drug therapies. Throughout New York City, individuals living with HIV/AIDS risk losing their housing due to compounding factors, such as increased medical costs and limited incomes or reduced ability to keep working due to related illnesses. A recent survey of GMHC clients showed that their top concern was housing.

"The top concern for the 10,000 clients GMHC sees every year is housing. This is an issue that was brought to me on my very first day as CEO of GMHC. I am thrilled to finally have an opportunity to provide housing to a population desperately in need of services. The legal, cultural, public health, and socioeconomic barriers created by the nation's current immigration system have created substantial obstacles for people living with HIV to access treatment and care," said Louie.

Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) is the nation's leading provider of HIV and AIDS care, prevention services and advocacy, serving nearly 10,000 people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS in New York City, the epicenter of the epidemic in the U.S. As the world's first HIV and AIDS service organization, GMHC is an expert in providing services that every person affected by the epidemic deserves.

GMHC is on the front lines caring for people who are both HIV negative and positive, including: testing, nutrition, legal, mental health and education services. GMHC also advocates for stronger public policies at the local, state and federal level with the goal of ending AIDS as an epidemic in New York State by 2020.

Most recently, GMHC and other HIV and AIDS organizations successfully persuaded the federal government to recommend widespread use of PrEP, a new daily treatment that is over 90 percent effective in preventing HIV infection.

For more information, visit www.gmhc.org.