The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) has launched a campaign for an increase in housing aid for people living with HIV/AIDS in the city.
According to John Peller, AFC’s director of political action, more than 200 positive Chicagoans will soon be without housing if the $1.5 million requested increase does not go through.
Much of the city’s housing funds goes to its Housing Assistance Program, which assists HIV-positive people with their housing payments. However, the program has not accepted new applicants since 2005. Chicago received a one-time funding bonus in 2004, but this has been completely used up, according to Peller, who says that people living with HIV could see services cut in January 2008.
Housing is a critical part of a person’s overall health care; for HIV-positive people, a lack of housing makes it difficult to fill HIV medication prescriptions and obtain the proper food to take with meds, among other difficulties.
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