Miami Herald - Dec. 17, 2003
Andrea Robinson, arobinson@herald.com

On Thursday, some of those same activists and program administrators will stand together in a more serene atmosphere to launch a service center and website designed to help the poorest AIDS clients find affordable housing.

The new Housing Assistance Service Center, to be located in Miami Beach, opens at a time when Miami and other U.S. cities are struggling to stretch resources to find housing for equally strapped AIDS/HIV patients.

The creation of the center symbolizes a new and better relationship between Miami officials and activists skeptical about the city's commitment to helping people with AIDS.

Last spring, activists, including the Miami-Dade HIV/AIDS partnership, teamed up with the city to survey clients about their needs. The housing center grew out of the results. It will be housed at the Miami Beach Community Development Corp. and serve people countywide.

At the new center, workers will refer clients to available homes and apartments. They also will intervene if a tenant has a dispute with a landlord, and counsel clients wanting to improve their credit so they can buy a home. Clients who already own their homes also can get advice on how to avoid foreclosure.

Information on about 150 homes and apartments is already on the website (www.hascmiami.org), said Vivian Garcia, a spokeswoman for the Miami Beach CDC.

MANY ARE POOR

Miami-Dade County has more than 20,900 people living with HIV or AIDS, according to figures from the state Health Department. Nearly 7,000 are considered very poor or extremely poor and receive medical services under the federal Ryan White Care Act, a provider of last resort.

But the city can only provide housing for more than 1,600 families affected by AIDS. As a result, Miami's program is limited to people who have been diagnosed with full-blown AIDS.

More than 600 housing opportunities exist, but those are expected to be filled by March, said Barbara Gomez-Rodriguez, executive director of the Miami Office of Community Development, which administers the city's housing programs.

Some AIDS activists say they are happy with the moves the city has made.

"I see great changes," said Vanessa Mills, president of Empower U, a nonprofit agency that manages some of the AIDS housing cases for the city of Miami. "I'm pleased with where we've come from last year."

"We've come a long way," Gomez-Rodriguez said. "They wanted to get us fired before."

Last year's skirmish centered on how the city spent funds from a federal program, Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS, or HOPWA. The program, which is expected to provide about $297 million to cities next year, helps poor HIV/AIDS patients avoid homelessness.

Because of the way funds are distributed, Miami's 2004 allocation will be cut by about $2.5 million, Gomez-Rodriguez said. The city will make up some of the difference by using funds that went unused in previous years, she said.

Members of the county's HIV/AIDS advisory board complained that community development officers did not tell them how HOPWA funds were being spent.

The dispute came to a head in fall 2002 when the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development ordered the city to halt its rent and utility assistance program, because officials had not followed HUD payment guidelines. Activists complained that about 60 households lost electricity and that some patients' refrigerated medications were ruined.

By December, irate activists crowded Miami Commission chambers and urged commissioners to intervene. The commissioners ordered talks between activists and program administrators, and the new service center grew out of those discussions.

HAND IN HAND

Surveys of the poorest people battling the disease show they are beset by financial hardship. A countywide assessment of about 300 people with AIDS conducted last spring found that that they spent more than 60 percent of their limited monthly income on housing. The figure jumped to 80 percent when utilities were added.

"The same communities that need help with affordable housing are the ones most affected by the disease," said Alicia Apfel, a Miami consultant hired by the city to bolster its program.

Garcia said housing specialists will visit landlords of buildings being considered for AIDS patients to make sure properties are structurally safe. Those that pass will be photographed and listed on the website in a section restricted to HIV/AIDS patients and case managers.

John Muhammad, past chairman of the HIV/AIDS advisory board, said the collaboration between AIDS activists and city officials was a welcome change.

"It's good," he said. "We worked hard enough for it."

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