Report: New York City AIDS housing is inadequate

A new report by the Hudson Planning Group and the University of Pennsylvania shows that housing for New York City's needy HIV-positive residents is inadequate, Gay City News reports. Currently, the city needs an additional 2,400 housing units, and that is expected to grow to 10,000-14,000 more units by 2010, according to the findings. The report, based on interviews with more than 2,000 HIV-positive New Yorkers and 200 field agents, also says that housing low-income or homeless HIV-positive people in single-room occupancy units for long periods of time is far more expensive than finding permanent housing for them. The city health department issued a statement that dismisses the report's findings, saying that the study lacks "specific, practical program suggestions and cost estimates" and that it did not "use sound methods to determine critically important housing needs projections." AIDS activists blasted the health department statement. "Everyone agrees there's going to be more of a need," New York City AIDS Housing Network director Jennifer Flynn told the Gay City Times. "Rather than dismissing the findings, the city should just recognize the need exists and start building more housing."