Success Stories
Were you able to convince your local Ryan White Planning Council about the importance of housing using the Took Kit PowerPoint? Get your Mayor to fund an HIV/AIDS Housing project using the fact sheet about cost-savings? The National AIDS Housing Coalition is collecting success stories from Tool Kit users to provide ideas and inspire others around the country.
Please send us your Tool Kits uses and success stories, both big and small, by emailing us at nahc@nationalaidshousing.org (subject line: Tool Kit Success).
| Where? | What Happened? |
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Capitol Hill |
During consideration of the FY2007 HUD spending bill on the floor of the House, Representative Jerrold Nadler (8th-NY) offered an amendment to increase the funding level for the HOPWA program for FY07 citing research from NAHC’s first Research Summit. Although the amendment was subsequently withdrawn, the Congressman along with Rep. Crowley (another co-sponsor of the HOPWA letter) used this opportunity to underscore the importance of the HOPWA program and to praise the increase approved by the House HUD Appropriations Subcommittee. Said Mr. Nadler, “Recent studies have shown that housing in many cases equates directly to HIV prevention because people with housing are much more likely to know their HIV status and, therefore, less likely to transmit the disease to others. Improvements in housing status also lead to lower rates of high risk behavior, such as intravenous drug use, which can lead to the spread of the disease.” Click here to read the full transcript of Rep. Nadler’s offering of the amendment. |
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Capitol Hill |
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (8th-NY) again discussed HOPWA on the floor during appropriations consideration for FY08. The Congressman cited research presented at NAHC’s Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit Series. “Rates of new HIV diagnoses among the homeless are 16 times the rate in the general population,” said Mr. Nadler, “and HIV/AIDS death rates are five to seven times higher. People with AIDS who are homeless are more likely to be uninsured, use an emergency room, and be admitted to a hospital.” Click here to read the full transcript. |
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Chicago
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Alexian Brothers Bonaventure House, a social service nonprofit organization that provides residential housing with supportive services to homeless people living with HIV/AIDS, secured a renewal commitment of $15,000 from The Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation in 2008. One of the contributing factors to our success in renewing this funder was the statistics that we cited from the NAHC’S Policy Toolkit. The renewal at the same level of funding as last year is significant due to the current economic environment.
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Connecticut |
During the 2007 legislative session, the AIDS LIFE (Legislative Initiative and Funding Effort) Campaign, the advocacy arm of the CT AIDS Resource Coalition was successful in advocating for $750,000 being added to the state’s budget to created 53 NEW units of housing for persons living with HIV/AIDS – including supportive services. AIDS LIFE used portions of NAHC’s Policy Toolkit to bolster their efforts in articulating the critical need for addition units. |
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Denver, Colorado |
Denver, Colorado NAHC member Del Norte’s mission is to create and preserve housing and other opportunities for underserved households, including those that are low and moderate income, Spanish-speaking and those with special needs. Del Norte cited information from the Policy Toolkit to successfully convince the City Council to consider approving its Juan Diego project. Homeless persons living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to thrive, remain healthy and even become employable with permanent housing. Toolkit data was also used in successful applications to the state department of housing for grant funding as well as to the state housing finance authority for tax credit funding. |