“What you see across the board is that the more stable peoples' housing is, the less likely they are to use illicit drugs, or use them in an unsafe manner, and the less likely they are to engage in risky sexual behavior,” says King.
Those pressing for change all agree that implementing HASA For All would cost the city upward of $50 million per year. But they argue that it’s a matter of paying for prevention now or paying more later – in higher rates of infection, higher health care costs and possibly higher death tolls.
“In the long run it will save money, because you will have people who are not getting sick," says Scholl.
Her point is echoed by cost-analysis research done by Ginny Shubert at Shubert Botein Policy Associates. Shubert finds that HASA For All would cost the city approximately $66 million per year. Yet for each month the program remains unimplemented, she says, “we could expect up to 66 new [HIV] transmissions each month” among those denied housing. She says this translates to an estimated $31 million in lifetime medical and service costs for each month of inaction, or a cost of $372 million per year. “It’s expensive not to do this,” she says.
However, it remains unclear how much support HASA For All has in the City Council. Councilmembers Charles Barron, Mathieu Eugene, and Letitia James were at last week's rally, and have pledged their support. Housing Works' King sees Quinn's opposition as the largest obstacle to HASA’s expansion.
As part of a campaign to convince her of HASA For All's merits, GMHC, Housing Works, and the New York City AIDS Housing Network brought in the leading researchers in the field to talk with her early last month. The advocates say it’s unclear if the presentation has changed Quinn's mind.
“We're going to need to lean on some of the more progressive council members who have leadership roles and ask them to have enough courage to take on the speaker," King says.
Shubert notes that HASA already won one uphill battle for service expansion, when litigation in the late 1980s led to the creation of Local Law 49, which extended services for the income-eligible from those with AIDS to those also suffering HIV-related diseases. "This is just the right thing to do, and I think we'll get there sooner or later," she said.
