Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - June 29, 2001
Katie Szymanski
The funding was requested by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in order to supplement funds for the PWA housing program. Although Ryan White CARE Act money and general city funds have traditionally supported the program, those funds have not increased with the rise in rental prices, according to SFAF policy director Dana Van Gorder, and an additional $366,000 is required in the city budget to prevent losing housing for people in need.
"The cost of the program goes up every year as rents go up," Van Gorder told the Bay Area Reporter. "Last year we needed about $260,000 from the city in order to prevent us form losing about 34 units of housing, and Supervisor Tom Ammiano took the lead on that one. This year we went to the mayor and asked that he find us an additional $360,000 in funds to prevent us from losing 55 units. We weren't successful."
It is now up to the Board of Supervisors, say advocates, to cut unnecessary expenditures in the mayor's budget in order to find the roughly $366,000 needed for the PWA housing program. Those cuts have been happening all week, and the subsequent add-back portion of the budget process will take place this afternoon (Thursday, June 28) and tonight, according to Supervisor Mark Leno, chair of the Board of Supervisors' Finance Committee.
"I am 100 percent committed to finding the subsidies for the 55 units that SFAF no longer has," Leno told the B.A.R. "The mayor hasn't cut these funds, but they didn't make it into his budget. I am supportive of finding that money, and we are in the process of cutting the budget as we speak, working with analysts who are either accepting or rejecting the recommendations of those cuts."
Leno said that in addition to finding the money for housing for PWAs, the board intends to fund raises for doctors at San Francisco General Hospital, who are paid at 20 percent below the national rate, and give raises to nonprofit contractors that work with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. As more city budget cuts take place, more money will be available to add-back in the form of assistance to those who request it.
"We'll be competing against some very worthy causes," said Van Gorder, who noted that Redevelopment Commissioner Mark Dunlop has also taken a leadership role in trying to secure PWA housing funds from his agency, although that has not been granted in the past.
"At this point," said Van Gorder, "the ball is in the supervisors' court."
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BR010622
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