The New York State Assembly reintroduced a rent cap bill ensuring that low-income people who are permanently disabled by HIV/AIDS and already receiving rental assistance pay no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent, according to a statement by Voices of Community Activists and Leaders New York (VOCAL-NY). Both the state Senate and Assembly passed the bill last year, but Governor David Paterson vetoed it in September 2010. The current housing program for low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS does not cap rental contribution. As a result, clients of the HIV/AIDS Services Administration’s rental assistance program can pay more than 70 percent of their benefits to rent, leaving them with scant resources for food and other necessities.

To read the VOCAL-NY statement, click here.