Bay Area Reporter - May 18, 2006
Rob Akers

The rally was slated to commemorate the 25th anniversary of AIDS and to urge city officials to oppose proposed cuts in AIDS housing subsidies by the Bush administration, according to Brian Basinger, director of the AIDS Housing Alliance.

Speakers at the rally included individuals targeted by the Ellis Act; including one man who compared his eviction trauma to time spent in Nazi prison camps during the Holocaust.

Boe Hayward, legislative assistant to Supervisor Bevan Dufty, told the group that Dufty would request a hearing by city officials to examine the loss of AIDS housing funds. That request was made during Tuesday's board meeting.

Dufty co-sponsored the call for the hearing with Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who attended Monday's rally.

"As long as the Republicans are in the White House they are going to try and cut up the pie," Ammiano said of the proposed housing cuts.

According to a summary of HIV/AIDS housing subsidies prepared for Dufty by Andrew Murray in the legislative analyst's office, increases in the cost of housing, combined with decreased federal funding, "have created a situation in which it is difficult for the local agencies responsible for implementation ... to maintain participation levels."

Report findings show that over the past three years there has been a 20 percent reduction in "deep" rental subsidies and a 31 percent loss of "shallow" rental subsidies provided by Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS. HOPWA and the Ryan White CARE Act are two sources of housing funds. The funding also provides supportive services. As federal resources have decreased over the past few years, the city has traditionally backed up the programs with general fund monies.

Suzin Wisland, 62, who's living with AIDS and at risk of losing her rent subsidy, was one speaker at the rally. "I am afraid of ending up homeless with my cat, Tabby, living on the street," said Wisland. "That would be very sad and dangerous for me. For those people who say that I need to move to a less expensive place, it's not that easy. I need to stay in San Francisco to keep my AIDS specialist of 15 years and my support network."

Those affected by the state Ellis Act also attended the rally.

Sem Kosoy, 67, said, "This is the most horrible time of my life. It compares with the time I spent in a fascist prison camp."

Kosoy, a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, a cancer survivor, were both evicted via the Ellis Act in 2004.

"Losing our home while my wife was undergoing 11 months of chemotherapy was awful," he said. "We were dealing with the severe side effects of treatment, which impacted her mobility. Trying to take care of my wife at a time like this, and looking for a new place to live was almost more than I could bear.

"I wish I could say I don't understand how people could be so cruel. Seniors will continue to be targeted until good people do something to change the Ellis Act. It may be too late for us, but please do something so that others don't have to experience what we went through," said Kosoy.

Norman Tanner, another speaker who said he is at risk for eviction, called the housing cuts "a real, real tragedy."

"This housing wait list is a joke. The disease is still here, folks ... people are being infected daily," said Tanner, who is a member of the HIV Health Services Planning Council.

"Clearly San Francisco and the Castro are headed in the wrong direction," Basinger said at the rally. "Disabled people with HIV/AIDS lives depend on living in San Francisco to maintain access to medical care. It is also important for many to live in neighborhoods of origin, like the Castro, to retain access to social support networks and their sense of community."

Basinger called on the "Democratically-controlled California State Assembly to immediately repeal the Ellis Act to stop this abuse."

He made a four-part request for city supervisors to take a look at during the hearing proposed by Ammiano and Dufty. They are:

* Backfill the subsidies already lost.

* Begin absorbing housing subsidies and commit to maintenance of effort to prevent future problems.

* Fast track the creation of a comprehensive AIDS housing plan.

* Call on state officials in Sacramento to repeal the Ellis Act.

According to statistics provided by Basinger, 70 percent of Ellis Act evictions targeted buildings with seniors, the disabled, people with AIDS, and other catastrophically ill tenants. He said the targeting of those vulnerable populations increased from 50 percent in 2002.

Nearly one fourth of all Ellis Act evictions are in the Castro District, according to Basinger. Basinger and the AIDS Housing Alliance launched "SF's Faces of Eviction" on May 1, an effort to bring awareness to the housing issue and mobilize public support.

In an interview Tuesday, Basinger called on Dufty "to support the repeal of the Ellis Act" and "to find substantially greater sums of money for AIDS housing." He also criticized Mayor Gavin Newsom for not putting more focus on AIDS housing issues.

"Living in an SRO in the Tenderloin, too often that is the vision of AIDS housing in San Francisco and that is not good enough," said Basinger.

Newsom said charges that he is not concerned about housing people with AIDS are "utterly, absolutely untrue" and said the enemy is not City Hall but Republicans in Congress. He said along with federal lobbying his administration has done on housing and subsidy issues, he is also focused on helping to pass the state housing bond this fall that would provide the city with millions of dollars.

"We will be housing people with HIV and AIDS. There are already 1,500 units in the pipeline, of that there will be a specific set aside for people with HIV and AIDS," said Newsom.

***

Matthew S. Bajko contributed to this article.

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