October 2, 2009

NYC Council Supports State HIV/AIDS Bill to Cap Rent

The New York City Council unanimously passed on September 30 a resolution in support of a state bill that would cap rent contributions for low-income HIV-positive people in the state, The Advocate reports. The bill would cap rent at 30 percent of their income.

The bill—introduced by openly gay and HIV-positive Senator Tom Duane and lesbian Assemblywoman Deborah Glick—passed the Senate in July, following an impassioned floor speech from Duane on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS. However, the measure remains stagnant in the Assembly’s ways and means committee. The bill will advance with support from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Governor David Paterson.

According to the article, the rental assistance program is the state’s only disability housing program that does not cap rent at 30 percent of clients’ income. The bill’s supporters say it could save New York State $12 million in emergency shelter costs.

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Previous Comments:

agapemou, Brooklyn, 2009-10-13 00:19:17
I hope it passes in the Assembly. My SSD which is in excess of $1,000 minus rent leaves me with 330/mo for trans. non-food..

peter, Paterson, NJ, 2009-10-08 15:02:00
Good for New Yorkers. Now, how about getting something done in other extreme high cost of living areas such as the Bergen Passaic county area of NJ right across the river from NYC? The typical decent, cockroach free 1 bedroom apartment starts at 1000 per month! With the constant lack of energy I have, I can't do much better than the 990 I NET each month. Rent in the dump I live? 775. This leaves me with 115 per month. The HOPWA program does NOTHING to help new cases, which by it's name, must

Richard Max Hurst, Oakland, 2009-10-08 14:10:50
This resolution should be enacted nation wide. Most people with AIDS are physically unable to go back to full time work, many even part-time work. This would avoid the high State/Federal cost of homeless.

Nurse Douglas, San Francisco, 2009-10-08 13:15:11
I had a rent freeze and rent subsidy for years when I was sick with AIDS, luckly, I went back to work/school with the California Dept. of REhab. I became a RN and graduated and got a nurse in treatment of Heart attacks in San Francisco and know I am buying a house and got married in IOWA with my Colombian man, moreover , we are on to bigger things like overturning DOMA and writing legislation that will allow same sex partners to get citizenship for their spouses. We are a thriving family here in