1. Members of Congress Sign Letters in
Support of Higher Level of Funding for HOPWA
Members
in both houses of Congress and on both sides of the aisle recently
demonstrated their strong support for the HOPWA program by signing
letters to Appropriators asking them to fund the program at $424
million for FY07. The President’s budget proposal, released in
February, recommends funding the program at only $300 million.
Senate
Letter
A bipartisan group of 35 Senators sent their version of the letter
to Appropriators yesterday, April 27, 2006. Thirty-five Senators
from states as diverse as New York, Vermont, Hawaii, and South
Dakota signed on to the letter which was sponsored by Senators
Durbin (D-IL) and Smith (R-OR). This is only the second year that
the Senate has circulated a HOPWA letter and more than one-third of
the Senate supported it.
Click here
to view the list of signers to see if your Senators signed on and
click here
to view the letter itself.
House Letter
The House letter, delivered on March
14, 2006, was co-sponsored by Representatives Nadler (D-8th NY),
Ros-Lehtinen (R-18th FL), and Crowley (D-7th NY) and was signed by a
total of 107 members of the House of Representatives.
Click here
to view the list of signers to see if your Representative signed on
and
click here
to view the letter itself.
The
large number of signers on both letters sends a strong message to
Appropriators that their colleagues expect an adequate funding level
for HOPWA in FY07. NAHC will use the letters to leverage support
for the program and ensure that HOPWA is funded at the highest
possible level.
Thank you and
congratulations to the many, many individuals and organizations that
contacted their members of Congress and requested that they sign on
to these two important letters. If your members signed on, be sure
to call and thank them for their support (all Congressional offices
can be reached through the Capitol switchboard: 202-255-3121).
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2.
Update on FY07
Budget, Appropriations and the Emergency Supplemental
Background: A week after returning from the 12 day Easter
recess, the House appears to have moved no closer to resolving the
issues that have precluded adoption of a Budget resolution (H. Con.
Res. 376) which will set spending guidelines for all the FY2007
appropriations bills. Prior to the recess, the House leadership --
unable to garner the votes for passage -- removed the budget
resolution from the House floor. The budget and appropriations
process timing is being impacted by the reaction of appropriators to
restrictions on earmarks included in Lobbying Reform legislation
(H.R. 4975) that the House leadership is anxious to move.
Whether
the budget resolution may be brought back to the House floor the
first week of May is problematic. In the meantime, some of the
appropriations subcommittees have set tentative dates to mark up
their bills and bring them to the floor for action including the
Transportation, Treasury, HUD and the Judiciary (TTHUD) Subcommittee
which may mark up the last week of May. In order to meet the target
date set by Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (CA) for completion
of action on all the spending bills by the July 4 recess, the
subcommittees -- including TTHUD --are commencing work likely using
the President’s budget request as a starting point. The proposed
total HUD budget for FY2007 of $33.65 billion is $622 million lower
than the post-rescission FY2006 enacted $34.27 billion. Under this
scenario, the TTHUD subcommittee may look to the programs proposed
for an increase in the Administration’s budget (including HOPWA) to
make up some shortfalls in HUD programs that were slashed, the most
notable example, the more than $1 billion cut from the CDBG
program. On the Senate side, funding allocations for the
appropriations subcommittees are not anticipated until mid-May when
work will commence in earnest on the spending bills.
In the
face of these budget pressures, the House and Senate HOPWA letters
urging the Appropriators to fund the program at $424 million and
signed by nearly one-fourth of the House and more than a third of
the Senate (see above article) are critical demonstrations of
strong bi-partisan support and recognition of growing unmet AIDS
housing need.
Action: Between now and subcommittee action on the HUD bill,
AIDS housing advocates should communicate to their congressional
delegations the importance of the AIDS housing and the HOPWA program
to their communities. Also consider scheduling now for your
Representative and Senators to visit AIDS housing in your community
during the Memorial Day recess (May 29-June 2) or the Independence
Day recess (July 3-7).
On
another funding front, the emergency supplemental appropriations
bill (H.R. 4939) to fund the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and provide
hurricane relief is embroiled in threats of a veto if the measure
exceeds the $92.2 billion requested by the President plus an
additional $2.3 billion for pandemic flu protection. Potential
unrelated additions including funding for fisheries, border
security, and veterans’ care and other items threaten to ratchet the
total up by several billion dollars. Efforts by low income housing
advocates to obtain some relief for Katrina survivors through the
Supplemental, including encouraging the funding of evacuees’
transitional housing assistance through HUD’ Disaster Voucher
Program rather than through FEMA, have, so far, been unsuccessful.
Timing for completion of action on the Emergency Supplemental
remained uncertain as the e-newsletter went to press.
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3.
AIDS and
Behavior
to Publish Special Issue on Housing and HIV/AIDS
NAHC,
AIDS & Behavior, and several researchers in the fields of
housing, homelessness, and HIV/AIDS are working together to produce
a special supplement of the journal that will focus on the
connection between housing and HIV/AIDS. NAHC is extremely excited
about this opportunity to partner with the academic journal and
widely disseminate more research about the connection between
housing status and individual and community health.
The journal has issued a call for papers for
submission into the special issue. Submissions are by June 1st.
Please
click here for more information.
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4.
Join NAHC for
the Second National Housing and HIV AIDS Research Summit
October 20-21st, 2006 in Baltimore, MD
NAHC is
continuing to move forward with the planning of the Second National
Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit: Transforming Fact into
Strategy – Developing a Public Health Response to the Housing Needs
of Persons Living With and At Risk of HIV/AIDS. Summit II will
bring together leading researchers, policy experts, service
providers and consumers, to continue the dialogue begun at the first
Research Summit regarding the relationship between housing status
and HIV prevention and care. The event will be conducted in
partnership with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society of
the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. David Holtgrave, Chair of the Department, was a convening
researcher and the host of Summit I, held in June 2005 at Emory
University.
Format
Researchers, policy experts, service providers and consumers
have all expressed interest in a meeting format that would provide
expanded opportunities to listen to each other, interact, and
collaborate on concrete strategies for transforming research
findings into public policy. The meeting will consist entirely of
plenary sessions on selected conference topics of concern to all
participants. Each session will include presentations of relevant
research findings, followed by comments from a panel of discussants
that will include other researchers, policy experts, providers and
consumers who have reviewed the research in advance, and concluding
with a structured discussion of policy implications and advocacy
action strategies. In addition to these plenary sessions, evening
activities on the first day may include a structured discussion
among researchers of community based and other innovative
methodological approaches and an evening “Research 101” session for
consumers, providers, and policy experts.
Logistics
The event will be held at the Mt. Washington Conference Center in
Baltimore, MD on October 20 and 21, 2006, convening at 10:00 AM on
Friday to allow time for morning travel and ending late Saturday
afternoon. Activities will be held throughout both days.
NAHC has
a block of rooms reserved at the Conference Center and nearby hotels
that will be available for attendees at a reduced rate. Book your
hotel room early with NAHC to ensure space and the lowest charges
(Johns Hopkins’ Parent’s Weekend falls on the same days as Summit
II). More information about hotel booking will be available soon.
Registration and Fees
Registration for the event will begin in June (exact date TBA).
NAHC is charging a flat conference fee that covers:
·
Two days of
plenary sessions and discussion meetings
·
All conference
materials/publications
·
Meals for both
days beginning with lunch on Friday and ending with lunch on
Saturday, including dinner, breakfast, and breaks.
The
conference fees are as follows:
2006
NAHC members:
Early Registration (cut off date TBA): $300
Regular Registration: $375
General Public:
Early Registration (cut off date TBA): $375
Regular Registration: $450
Presenting Researchers/Policy Experts:
Researchers and Policy Experts whose abstracts are accepted and are
presenting at Summit II will receive waived conference fees.
Scholarships/Discounted Rates:
HIV/AIDS housing consumers may be eligible for scholarships and/or
discounted conference fees. More information will be released soon.
Call
for Abstracts
NAHC is soliciting abstracts for presentations at Summit II. Both
research and policy abstracts are encouraged.
Topic
Areas Include But Are Not Limited To:
·
Reentry housing for
ex-offenders
·
Housing active users
·
Housing impacts on
medical service use and attendant cost savings
·
Housing as
prevention
·
Housing as
healthcare
·
Specific populations
including youth aging out of foster care, women with children,
residents of rural communities, ethnic sub-populations
·
Alternatives to the
“risky person model”
Abstracts for Housing and HIV/AIDS
Research Summit II presentations must be submitted by June 15,
2006. Notification of acceptance will be emailed to the authors no
later than August 15, 2006.
Click here
to view the complete call for
abstracts.
Click here
for more information on Summit II, including a link to the Concept
Paper for the event and Summit I at the Emory University Center for
AIDS Research.
Products from
Summit I
NAHC still has available a few copies of the 450 page briefing book
from the first National Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit. The
books, which are available at cost, contain the presented research
articles, extensive abstracts, and researcher presentations.
Click here to view the complete
table of contents.
Click here for more information on
ordering a copy for yourself or your organization.
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5.
NAHC Hosts
Briefing on Housing and HIV/AIDS for Congressional Staff
On
Thursday, March 16, 2006 The National AIDS Housing Coalition hosted
its fifth Congressional Staff Briefing on AIDS Housing in the
Rayburn House Office Building attended by 30 housing and health
staffers. The briefing, sponsored by Senate Housing and
Transportation Subcommittee Chair Wayne Allard (R-CO) and Ranking
Member Jack Reed (D-RI), featured a short film in which AIDS housing
consumers from communities as diverse as Jackson, Mississippi, New
York City, Pontiac, Michigan to Louisville, Kentucky, described the
impact of stable housing on their lives and ability to devote
attention to their healthcare. Each year since 2002 NAHC has hosted
briefings in an effort to update congressional staffers on AIDS
housing need and importance in communities across the country.
Senate and House staffers
gather in the Rayburn House Office Building
for a briefing on Housing and HIV/AIDS.
The briefing began with a welcome from
NAHC board president Joe Carleo and remarks by Daniel Penchina,
Legislative Assistant to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY), an AIDS Housing
champion, chief sponsor of the HOPWA letter on FY2007
Appropriations. NAHC first Vice President Shawn M. Lang moderated a
question and answer session following the film. A buffet lunch was
provided courtesy of NAHC board members The AIDS Institute, The
Southern AIDS Coalition, AIDS Services of Dallas, Shawn Lang, Debra
Fleming and Aaron Riley.
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6.
HRSA to Solicit Comments on Change to the Policy on Use of CARE Act
Funds for Short-Term Housing Assistance
The HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) in the Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is poised to publish
for comment in the Federal Register an amendment to the policy on
use of Ryan White CARE Act funds for Housing Referral Services and
Short-term or Emergency Housing Needs. The draft policy- projected
to take effect on March 1, 2007 -- limits short-term and emergency
housing assistance eligibility for funding under the CARE Act to 24
months in an effort to comport the HRSA definition of short-term
housing with that used by HUD Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance
Programs and HOPWA.
Among the concerns is the impact of the
policy on the ability of AIDS housing programs to extend
transitional housing assistance beyond the 24 month period in
communities where permanent housing options are simply unavailable.
In recent weeks, HRSA has notified
EMA’s nationally that it will propose a national policy that would
limit total length of stay in CARE funded transitional housing to a
2 year period with no extensions being possible. In many housing
markets where affordable housing options are unavailable and in
light of the critical importance of stable housing for people with
HIV/AIDS, such a policy, with its lack of flexibility, is
unrealistic.
NAHC
will be commenting and urges all providers who depend on CARE
-transitional housing to respond to this proposed policy which is
expected to appear in the Federal Register during the week of May 1,
2006. Any written comments to the HRSA proposed policy must be
post-marked no later than 60 days after the date of publication in
the Federal Register. NAHC will send an email notice and link to the
Federal Register notice as soon as it is published.
NAHC member, the San Francisco AIDS
Foundation, has volunteered to share the with interested providers
for use in crafting their own comments its response to the proposal,
arguing that any future HRSA policy should permit extensions for
clients when it can be demonstrated that access to non-CARE funded
housing is simply not available and that a client risks becoming
homeless. Contact
dvangord@sfaf.org
if you would like to obtain a copy of SFAF’s comments. NAHC’s
comments will be posted to the NAHC website once the draft policy
appears in the Federal Register.
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7.
Of Note…
GAO Report
In February, 2006 the Government Accountability Office released a
report, HIV/AIDS: Changes Needed to Improve the Distribution of
Ryan White CARE Act and Housing Funds. GAO’s examination
included a review of the method for allocation of CARE Act and HOPWA
funds among types of services, variations in distribution
differences among CARE Act and HOPWA grantees, and the impact of the
CARE Act and HOPWA funding formula on creating these variations as
well as the impact of including HIV case counts in the formulas.
GAO recommended that if the Congress
acts to revise the formulas to yield more comparable funding per
case if the goal is funding for the programs based on the
distribution of live AIDS cases.
The full text of the report can be found at
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06332.pdf.
NAHC
Institute at NAEH Conference in July 2006
NAHC will be presenting a half-day training institute at the
National Alliance to End Homelessness’ annual DC conference July
17-19th, 2006. The following is a description of the
institute, which will take place on Tuesday, July 18th,
from 2:00 – 5:15 PM:
AIDS
Housing Survival Strategy: Keeping Housing Available to Those who
Need It. Housing is known to improve the health outcomes of
individuals living with HIV/AIDS. It is instrumental in keeping
them in care and in compliance with their medication regimens. As
people are living longer, the housing needs become more pronounced
and complex. This Institute will feature long term practitioners in
the AIDS housing field who will present practical information on
maximizing resources such as the continuum of care, creating
strategic alliances with other housing partners, performance
measures and evaluation, and mixed use housing.
More information on registering for the
conference will be available soon on NAEH’s website:
www.endhomelessness.org.
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8.
Join NAHC
Online
Support from members allows NAHC, which
operates entirely on grants, donations, and dues, to continue
representing the interests of AIDS housing on Capitol Hill and
disseminating pertinent information to advocates, providers, and
consumers across the country.
From a current NAHC member:
“I just wanted to say how impressed I
am with the information that is being provided to NAHC members. It
is truly gratifying to see the organization reaching its full
potential and you guys are simply doing an incredible job! I credit
much of the information provided by NAHC regarding the HIV/AIDS
homeless for assisting our agency in securing a 1.2 million dollar
SPNS grant from HUD. My grant writing skills may have helped secure
the award, but the information from NAHC was powerful and convincing
regarding the needs of the HIV/AIDS homeless. We will be providing
housing and supportive services to an additional 62 homeless
families living with HIV over the three year project period.”
It is now possible to join or make
donations to NAHC ONLINE using your credit card!
Please visit our enrollment and donations page at
www.nationalaidshousing.org/join.htm.
Please also be sure to tell your friends and colleagues about
membership opportunities in NAHC.
Thank you for your support!
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