Bay Area Reporter - January 8, 2009
Seth Hemmelgarn, s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

De Sandi, 40, was laid off from his job as controller at F Street Corporation in May.

"Since May, I have been applying everywhere - I will take anything," said de Sandi.

He's currently working part-time at a check cashing business, making around $700 a month.

Until recently, he was still able to pay his rent. But this week, he was filling out paperwork to get housing help from AIDS Housing Alliance/SF.

"I hope that this month things begin to open so I will get something better, but right now, this has been just terrible," said de Sandi.

De Sandi, who is living with AIDS, said he's healthy and isn't on disability, but he has a lot of debt, and he's about to file for bankruptcy.

"I recognize how important the agencies are in spite of the lack of resources," de Sandi said of places like AHA-SF. "When you're in a situation like this, you feel in such despair you want to cry when anyone helps you. It's great what they do."

The alliance has been seeing more people like De Sandi, said Brian Basinger, AHA/SF's founder and director. And like other agencies in the city, it's seeing more people at a time when money is tight.

In December 2007, which Basinger notes is a short month because of the holidays, the alliance received funding for five applications for emergency financial assistance. In December 2008, the agency processed 25 applications, and has so far received funding for 17 of those.

"We are suffering over here," said Basinger. "We're struggling to keep up, and I don't have any money to hire additional help."

The organization, which has a budget of about $300,000, helps people who are seeking emergency financial assistance for back rent, move-in deposits, and other needs. They also have 10 single-occupancy hotel rooms for people's temporary use.

Basinger said there have been more requests for the rooms, when the agency already turns away three times as many people as it can help each week.

He said the agency was getting people who were sick and were referred to the alliance from the hospital, or were on disability "and have been living on the edge because of chronically low income status, and something happens and they hit the skids and need a little bit of help."

Now, though, Basinger said, the agency is seeing an increased number of people who haven't accessed social services before but have been laid off and need help.

They're "coming to us in desperation to try and preserve their housing," said Basinger.

"People are in a state of panic because their sense of hope that they're going to be able to get a new job has been diminished," said Basinger. "People are scared ... At the same time, individual giving is down, the city is facing this massive need to prioritize its spending, and rents are too high."

San Francisco has been facing a budget gap of at least $90 million this year, and a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Mike Smith, executive director of the San Francisco-based AIDS Emergency Fund, said there's been an increase in the total value of grants it has given to clients to help cover the rent and other basic expenses such as utility bills.

Last month, the organization made grants worth a total of $152,000 to about 240 clients, compared to about $97,000 to approximately 180 people in December 2007.

"We're only now beginning to try to figure out what it's based on," said Smith. He said in December 2007, there were about 30 new clients. This December, there were 45 new clients, "which I think is a reflection of the economy û people needing help for the first time," said Smith.

However, Smith also said the increased number of new clients only accounts for about $10,000 worth of the larger amount in grants.

The fund's budget for 2008-09 is $1.8 million, Smith said. There was "a little dip in donations in the fall," but he said it wasn't substantial and the organization isn't yet facing any city budget cuts.

Smith said it's too early to tell whether the December statistics are "just a blip," and although funding appears to be stable, "if we're going to continue to see huge increases like this in client needs month after month, we're going to be off-budget pretty quickly."

He said donations "would be really appreciated right now," especially since January and February are usually slow months.

Other services

Jane Gelfand, an attorney and managing legal director for Positive Resource Center, which offers comprehensive benefits counseling and employment services to people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS, said she didn't have specific numbers, but there has been more demand for services.

Gelfand said under the Bush administration there has been a "stripping away" of safety-net programs and employment options, leaving people in dire circumstances.

She said PRC generates revenue for the city by getting people enrolled in state disability insurance and insurance premium payment programs, because when people have to go without health insurance, their health care and housing may end up being paid for by the city and county.

For every dollar spent on the programs, the county and city get at least $5 back by getting people access to the programs, said Gelfand.

She said if people lose their job, they should speak with their doctor immediately about the option of state disability insurance, and contact Positive Resource Center or other agencies for possible enrollment in a state premium payment program to continue their private health insurance.

People need to be allowed to "explore what the future holds, whether that's returning to work, or needing to take care of themselves and looking at Social Security."

Project Open Hand, which provides meals to homebound people including seniors and people with HIV, is also getting more requests for help.

"We haven't seen a huge increase in the numbers of clients," said Tom Nolan, Project Open Hand's executive director. "What we are seeing, however, is an increased pattern of usage of the services," particularly in the program where the agency provides groceries.

Nolan said the agency hasn't experienced a "huge" influx of new clients, but they are hearing more from people who have been clients for some time but haven't been actively using the services until now.

"We believe fully that's a reflection of the economy," said Nolan.

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