Bay Area Reporter - May 1, 2008
Seth Hemmelgarn, s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

"It's a great program," said the 38-year-old Swenson, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 2004 and was coming down with pneumonia in January when a social worker at San Francisco General Hospital's Ward 86 referred him to the housing alliance. "I think it saved my life. I was that sick, and they gave me someplace warm and dry."

Swenson, who's gay, stayed in one of the group's 10 single-room occupancy hotel rooms for four weeks, and is now living in another SRO. He's also working 15 hours a week at a cafe the alliance operates at University of California Hastings College of the Law.

After five years of helping people like Swenson, the AIDS Housing Alliance could use some help itself, according to Brian Basinger, the alliance's founder and director.

Basinger said the group is anticipating the loss of money it's relied on from the San Francisco Department of Public Health to pay for five of its 10 hotel rooms. That's money the department's provided without including it in its budget. With the department facing millions in cuts, Basinger said that funding is not going to appear for the 2008-09 fiscal year. Basinger said the alliance is seeking $50,000 to make up for the five rooms.

The agency also receives $50,000 from the Mayor's Office of Community Development, but that funding is expected to remain stable, according to an office spokesman.

On top of that, the Mayor's Office of Housing - itself facing a cut in federal community block grant development funding - has recommended cutting the alliance's contract by about one third, from $35,000 to $25,000.

Basinger said if the $10,000 is cut, his agency will have to give "serious consideration" to the number of staff it keeps, which could affect the level of service the alliance is able to provide.

Basinger said the agency is a good investment for the city.

"We do so much with so little, and nobody else can touch us," said Basinger, who like everyone else who works for the agency makes $10 an hour. "I challenge anyone to find another agency that pays the executive director $670 a month."

He said the alliance, which has a budget of $225,000, saw 307 unduplicated clients between July 2007 and February 2008 and 102 people had come through the hotel, where clients can stay for up to 28 days.

"We turn people away every week for our hotel program, which is not what we like to do," Basinger said. "We need more hotel rooms, not less."

Citing the Board of Supervisors' comprehensive HIV/AIDS housing plan, Basinger said there are up to 2,500 homeless people with HIV/AIDS in San Francisco.

Basinger said the cafe gives people like Swenson a chance to get back into the workforce and earn money to help with housing costs. For people living with HIV and AIDS, going back to work can be complicated, and scary. Besides the sickness and side effects that may be brought on by the disease itself and the drugs used to treat it, people receiving federal disability benefits have to adhere to strict income limits, so they can often just work a few hours a week.

"Getting back into a regular schedule has helped me mentally and physically," Swenson said. "Doing the work has given me back a sense of accomplishment and has helped with depression." It's also a social outlet.

The cafe, which opened in January, has brought in $17,000 in sales, Basinger said. The cafe, where revenue mostly covers the cost of operations and the salary for the people who work there, will likely shut down during the summer.

Basinger said his agency's ability to be effective while working with a relatively small budget makes it "an incredible investment," which he plans to remind the city's supervisors.

But he also knows times are tough for lots of nonprofits in the city, and he doesn't want to pit agencies against each other.

"I think I have been a client at most of these agencies," Basinger, who is living with AIDS himself, said. "I have a lot of love for them."

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