National AIDS Housing Coalition

Policy Tool Kitwww.nationalaidshousing.org/policytoolkit.htm

Based on Research Presented at the Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit Series

Christine Campbell2010 HIV Research Catalyst Forum

Baltimore, MDApril 22, 2010

Policy & practice implications of research findings

• Policy implication: HIV prevention and care strategies will not succeed without addressing structural barriers such as homelessness & housing instability

• Policy implication: housing for persons with HIV/AIDS is a sound health care investment

• Practice implication: housing status is likely the most important characteristic of each new client - the most significant determinant of each PLWHA’s health and risk outcomes

Yet housing remains the greatest unmet service need of PLWHA

• 1.1 million PLWHA in the United States—half (500,000) will need housing assistance at some point

• The Federal Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program serves only 56,600 households/year nationwide

• More than 140,000 households living with HIV lack stable housing and have an immediate need for housing assistance

• Rates of homelessness also high among persons at high risk of HIV infection due to substance use, mental health issues, domestic violence

NAHC Policy Toolkit:www.nationalaidshousing.org/policytoolkit.htm

Advocacy for housing assistance:– As a basic human right

– As a necessary component of systems of care to enable PLWHA to manage their disease

– As an exciting new mechanism to end the AIDS crisis by preventing new infections

What’s in the tool kit?

• Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit policy papers

• Issue fact sheets (in your materials)

• PowerPoint presentation of research findings

– Annotated presenter’s guide to the PowerPoint presentation

• Sample letter to elected or appointed officials

• Talking points on frequently asked questions (policy obstacles)

• Summit IV briefing book (table of contents in your materials)

Tool: Talking points on frequently asked questions

• Why HIV-specific housing resources?

• Aren’t homeless/unstably housed PLWHA just risky people?

• Isn’t housing too expensive?

• Isn’t health care more important than housing for PLWHA?

• Can’t PLWHA use existing low-income housing resources?

• Can PLWHA with chronic substance use issues be housed?

Summit IV policy action strategies• Implement a coordinated communication strategy to disseminate

the strong evidence base for housing as HIV prevention and health care;

• Increase opportunities for collaboration in the development, implementation and evaluation of effective housing programs and policies;

• Mainstream human rights in HIV/AIDS prevention and care strategies, including the basic human right to housing;

• Redefine appropriate housing for PLWHA as housing that is affordable, safe and accessible to all; and

• Engage in comprehensive planning that establishes norms, beginning with adoption of the International Declaration on Poverty, Housing Instability & HIV

Summit IV Research Action Strategies

• Move towards integrated cross-sector data systems to better target, deliver and evaluate housing resources;

• develop a deeper understanding of different models of housing, including the causal mechanisms at work in effective housing interventions;

• Broaden our understanding of the unique housing needs of special populations;

• Foster community based participatory research (CBPR) approaches;

• Increase opportunities for meta-analyses of HIV/AIDS housing needs and interventions to amplify the power of program data.

Office of National AIDS Policy consultation on housing and HIV/AIDS

Evidence-based recommendations:

• To reduce HIV incidence – recognize, support and fund housing as an evidence-based prevention strategy

• To improve health outcomes – acknowledge that housing is health care for PLWHA, with an immediate goal of 140,000 new units of housing by 2012

• To reduce HIV health disparities – adopt a public health approach to housing that removes barriers, targets housing assistance to those most vulnerable, and fosters cross-system “silo-busting” resource coordination to meet real need

Get Involved!

• Stay in touch with NAHC - www.nationalaidshousing.org

• Join the International AIDS Housing Roundtable - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iahr/

• Endorse the International Declaration on Poverty, Homelessness and HIV - http://nationalaidshousing.org/2008/07/endorseconference/

• Use the NAHC Policy Tool Kit to inform local policy & funding decisions http://www.nationalaidshousing.org/policytoolkit.htm

• Share your successes - let NAHC know how you use research findings to inform practice and policy

Register Now!

North American Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit V

June 2nd - 4th, 2010Toronto, Canada

Convened byThe National AIDS Housing Coalition

andThe Ontario HIV Treatment Network

in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

For more information and to register, visit http://www.hivhousingsummit.org/frmHome.aspx