727 15th Street, Suite 210 Washington DC 20005 202-408-0305 FAX 202-408-1142 WWW.HOUSINGWORKS.

ORG

DEMAND HOUSING FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS & HIV

December 29, 2009 Housing Works respectfully submits its comments to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Strategic Plan. HUDs Draft Mission and Vision Statements: Invest in quality affordable homes and build strong, safe, healthy communities for all. Our vision is to improve lives and strengthen communities to deliver on Americas dreams. For Residents: We will improve lives by creating affordable homes in safe, healthy communities, and by protecting the rights and affirming the values of a diverse society. For Partners: We will be a flexible, reliable problem solver and a valued source of innovation. For Employees: We will be a great place to work where employees are mission driven, results oriented, innovative, and collaborative. For the Public: We will be a good neighbor, building sustainable communities that create value and investing public money responsibly to deliver the results that matter. Draft Goals: Goal 1: Repair the nations economy and housing market a. End the foreclosure crisis b. Protect consumers when they buy a home c. Re-create a strong housing finance system d. Promote affordable, financially sustainable and appropriate housing options, including homeownership Goal 2: Promote affordable rental housing a. Expand the supply of quality affordable rental housing b. Preserve the existing supply of federally assisted quality affordable rental housing c. Increase rental housing affordability across a broad range of incomes while reducing the number of families and individuals with severe housing needs Housing Works Comments: Housing Works recommends that as HUD expands the supply of quality affordable rental housing while preserving the existing supply of federally Housing Works: Comments to HUD Strategic Plan Page 1

727 15th Street, Suite 210 Washington DC 20005 202-408-0305 FAX 202-408-1142 WWW.HOUSINGWORKS.ORG

DEMAND HOUSING FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS & HIV

assisted quality affordable rental housing, that HUD base federal planning on real housing needs of special needs populations including homeless and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The HOPWA program reports approximately 127,000 households with unmet housing needs identified by current grantees. The National AIDS Housing Coalition and HIV/AIDS housing and service providers project that half of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV will need housing assistance at some point, and that approximately 72% of households living with HIV meet the eligibility requirements for HOPWA support. Start by determining real need and set annual benchmarks for progress towards this overall goal. We also recommend that HUD promote planning to meet the housing needs of PLWHA. This would include requiring that every jurisdiction seeking targeted HIV/AIDS federal dollars to include a detailed housing instability needs assessment and a strategy for addressing that need, including both temporary and permanent housing support and require all HUD Continuum of Care Planning Coalitions to include HIV prevalence and/or risk of HIV analyses in the establishment of need and weighing of priorities. Goal 3: Utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life a. Improve educational and early development outcomes for those living in HUD assisted housing b. Improve health outcomes for those living in HUD-assisted and HUD regulated housing c. Increase economic security and self-sufficiency for those living in HUDassisted housing d. Provide housing and social stability for the homeless and those at risk of being homeless Housing Works Comments: Housing Works recommends that HUD acknowledges housing is HIV health care for PLWHA who lack stable housing by recognizing and funding housing assistance (including related support services) as a core health care activity for all targeted federal programs for the care of PLWHA, requiring that individual housing need be assessed and reported by all grantees of targeted HIV funding; and requiring that housing assistance be included as key component of the treatment plan for every person with HIV who is homeless or unstably housed. Housing Works would also like to highlight how quality of life can be improved by recognizing and fund housing assistance as a primary HIV prevention activity (to prevent HIV exposure among uninfected persons) for homeless and unstably housed persons at heightened vulnerability for HIV infection; recognizing and fund housing assistance as a core secondary HIV prevention activity (to prevent Housing Works: Comments to HUD Strategic Plan Page 2

727 15th Street, Suite 210 Washington DC 20005 202-408-0305 FAX 202-408-1142 WWW.HOUSINGWORKS.ORG

DEMAND HOUSING FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS & HIV

HIV transmission from infected people to their uninfected contacts) for individuals living with HIV who lack stable housing. We recommend that housing be promoted and supported as an HIV prevention strategy. This can be done by requiring that housing need be assessed and reported by all grantees of targeted HIV prevention funding; requiring that housing assistance be included as key component of HIV prevention planning; and allowing federal HIV prevention funding at CDC, SAMSHA, NIH, and other agencies to be used to collaborate on HIV-specific housing services (if so prioritized by local community planning groups as one element of a comprehensive HIV prevention program). Goal 4: Build inclusive sustainable communities of opportunity a. Excel in disaster preparedness, resiliency and recovery b. Improve the health and economic self-sufficiency of all community residents, while reducing the impact of communities on the environment c. Catalyze economic development and job creating, while preserving community assets d. Ensure diverse, equitable and fair communities for all e. Advance strong local and regional public and private organizations. Goal 5: Transform the way HUD does business Housing Works Comments: Housing Works recommends that it transforms the way it does business by removing eligibility requirements that exclude vulnerable persons from housing assistance (such as the HUD definition of homelessness, which excludes persons leaving institutions; and criteria that deny VA housing to veterans with other than honorary discharges from the military); lifting public housing exclusions based on status, such as a history of incarceration, or active drug use; and prohibiting restrictions on HIV housing supports that are based on stages of disease models, chemical dependency status, or that require a minimum income threshold. Housing Works also recommends that HUD target existing resources to those most vulnerable by imposing requirements and/or offer incentives for local communities to commit housing resources to evidence-based low-threshold housing models with few or no housing-readiness requirements, and to develop programs that meet the unique needs of underserved groups such as transgendered persons, active drug users and sex workers. This can be done by distributing available funding in a manner that is based on real need in each community, coordinating or blending funding streams (or otherwise eliminate silos) to increase access to housing resources targeted to address overlapping issues of, Housing Works: Comments to HUD Strategic Plan Page 3

727 15th Street, Suite 210 Washington DC 20005 202-408-0305 FAX 202-408-1142 WWW.HOUSINGWORKS.ORG

DEMAND HOUSING FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS & HIV

e.g., HIV/AIDS, homelessness, domestic violence, substance use, re-entry from prison and jail, homelessness among veterans; and developing strategies to combine funding sources to provide services on-site that support stability and connection to care and reduce the harm associated with drug use, sex trade or other risk behaviors associated with poverty and unstable housing. Housing Works also recommends that HUD develop coordinated financing mechanisms for housing that take into consideration the cross-systems savings realized through improved health outcomes and avoidance of costly crisis care services; and employ this approach to support expanded housing resources such as a federal voucher entitlement for disabled persons living on fixed incomes (SSI, SSDI, Veterans benefits). Questions: Does the draft mission statement give you a clear understanding of HUDs purpose? Do the vision statement and its tenets paint a clear picture of what HUD wants to be? Does the vision statement align with what you think HUD should be? Do these goals and sub-goals capture the problems you think HUD should be addressing? Is anything missing? Are there elements you think are important to express that are not sufficiently represented? Housing Works Comments: Housing Works would like to see the mission statement be more declarative that clearly defines HUDs success Build strong, affordable, safe, healthy communities for all. We believe the vision and tenets do paint a clear picture of what HUD wants to be as well as what we would like to see HUD become. We do believe that goals 1-4 do address the problems that need to be addressed but goal 5 is left open for wide interpretation therefore will be difficult to define progress and/or success.

Housing Works: Comments to HUD Strategic Plan

Page 4