The National HIV/AIDS Housing Coalition (NHAHC) remembers the tens of millions of people who have died from AIDS throughout the world and we stand with those currently living with HIV/AIDS to fight for access to housing, healthcare, and beyond.
We are joining agencies and leaders around the world to address the mass inequalities across the globe that are holding back progress in ending AIDS and to Equalize.
The year, 2022, marks 41 years since the first cases of AIDS were reported, taking the lives of 40.1 million people worldwide. We applaud the recent strides to close the gaps for access to prevention, testing, and treatment for our community but lament that as COVID-19, Monkeypox, and other global crises have emerged, progress to end the HIV epidemic has wavered and put millions of lives at risk. Our community has lived with four decades of stigma, discrimination, and criminalization. This has caused many to resist seeking prevention, testing, and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
In the United States, the need for safe, affordable housing remains the number one unmet need for people living with HIV. A stable home is a cornerstone of basic quality of life, and for people living with HIV/AIDS, this basic need is interdependent with achieving health and success in controlling HIV.
As long as HIV/AIDS exists in America, NHAHC will fight for safe, affordable housing as a means of prevention and treatment in ending the HIV epidemic. We will advocate for robust funding for the HOPWA program, which has seen a funding increase of 34% in the past five years. HOPWA is a critical program that promotes stigma-free housing supports to low and extremely low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS which include access to safe places to live, opportunities for counseling and case management, and access to transportation and food.
For World AIDS Day, we ask for you to take action and contact your local officials and members of Congress and urge them to support HOPWA and other HUD programs so that we can end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America. Housing remains the number one need for people living with HIV/AIDS and we cannot end the epidemic so long as nearly 400,000 of those individuals in the United States are unstably housed, with an additional 100,000 remaining homeless.
Together we can advocate that Housing is Healthcare.
Yours in Fight,
Lauren Banks
Executive Director
National HIV/AIDS Housing Coalition
