On July 20, demonstrators protested the city’s policies about AIDS housing
— or what they see as the lack of a coherent policy — in front of
the offices of a city agency in Chelsea.
Brochures and posters educate students and staff about harassment, and bias incidents will be
monitored. But some advocates say the new regulations aren’t strong
enough.
Additional financial woes arrive as city trims $5.5 million in HIV/AIDS funds and the CDC announces a 40 percent spike in estimated HIV infections.
Anti-Violence Project explains how our reactions to the murder can
influence our own safety and well-being. Plus: Safety tips for dating
and online encounters.
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By JAMES WITHERS
Friday, July 22, 2005
Floyd McNair has lived at Malibu House since July 2002. The Single Room Occupancy
hotel is located at Broadway and West 103rd Street and McNair has been pleased
with everything until about six months ago.
Since then, he and other residents are no longer allowed to use the front
door. Once-daily cleaning has been reduced to once a week.
For McNair and others, the reduction in services feels like a betrayal. Although
the hotel was only supposed to be temporary, it is sort of like home now. “After
three years it’s like permanent housing,” McNair said.
Now, all 20 people placed in Malibu by the city’s HIV and AIDS Services
Administration, HASA, have received a letter saying they would be evicted as
of July 13 because the contract between HASA and the hotel had been terminated.
“Malibu will be functioning only as tourist hotel at the request of
Malibu’s owner Hank Freid,” said Elizabeth Reynolds of the New York
City AIDS Housing Network. “Some people have been there for over two years
and do not have the security of permanent housing.”
“The owner trying to get people out is not surprising,” said Regina
Quattrochi, the chief executive officer of Bailey House. “The Malibu has
been the center of controversy for a number of years. The city failed the residents
and the community by not insisting that supportive services were brought on
site.” Bailey House is a private provider of housing for people with AIDS
whose most prominent site is at the western edge of Christopher Street.
On Wednesday, July 20, people demonstrated at HASA’s headquarters on
Eighth Avenue and West 30th Street. They demanded the city agency to allow Malibu
clients to remain until they could find permanent housing elsewhere.
Harold Hicks, who has lived in the hotel for the past six years, said he has
contacted a lawyer through Housing Works. “I’m listening to my lawyer,”
Hicks said. “My rights are that I do not have to move.”
Hicks, like others at the rally, wondered how what was supposed to be a short-term
housing arrangement turned into something more long term. “I need permanent
housing immediately, a place where I can address my health and other issues
I need to,” he said.
Housing for people with AIDS has been in the news recently due to what many
consider waste and inefficiency. On July 4, New York City Comptroller William
Thompson issued an audit that found the Human Resources Administration did not
use city rules when the agency provided emergency housing to individuals with
AIDS and even gave checks to house people who were dead.
“We found that HRA paid for individuals who did not sign registration
logs, who had already left the facilities, or who had died,” Thompson
said in a press release put out by his office. “Since our review only
covered HASA clients who died in fiscal year 2003, the strong possibility exists
that emergency housing vendors continue to bill HRA for similar individuals
who died or left the facilities for other reasons in subsequent years.”
Jennifer Flynn, the executive director of NYCAHN, believes that “the
comptroller’s’ report should really be looked at because the city
is probably violating its own laws by not having the hotel owners sign a formal
contract.”
Flynn emphasizes that NYCAHN is not looking for homeless AIDS patients to
be placed in the best apartments in the city. But she does wonder out loud what
kind value the city is getting for its dollar.
“What no one is arguing is homeless people should be getting luxury
apartments,” Flynn said. “But you shouldn’t be paying luxury
apartment rates for a hole in the wall. This is a situation is when we are spending
all of this money on the worst kind of housing.”
The audit also inspected 91 units in five facilities and found more than a
quarter with unsafe or unsanitary conditions. Auditors noticed roaches, peeling
paint, leaking faucets, water damage and broken tiles. These findings mirrored
a study by Councilmember Eric Gioia (D-Astoria), who discovered that 73 percent
of the facilities he looked at had open violations issued by the Department
of Housing and 50 percent did not provide such basic amenities such as mattresses
and toilet paper.
“We have noticed that a number of the SROs have problems with mice,
rats, bed bugs and roaches,” Reynolds said.
“The SRO’s that are used for emergency housing are buildings with
a lot of violations,” said Flynn. They are hazardous; crime and drug ridden
and very dangerous to live in.”
Recently Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation that are part of a package
that will require the City to move homeless people living with AIDS into permanent,
medically appropriate housing. The bills also require the City Council to be
given regular reports on how well the housing program is run.
Phone calls to HASA were not returned as the Blade went to press.
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