Housing Works is preparing for our epic 12-hour World AIDS Day Commemoration. This year, for the very first time, we will be gathering in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza Park to let people know that “Housing is Healthcare: House People Living with HIV/AIDS.”

The event will be held in Brooklyn at Cadman Plaza East (a short walk behind Brooklyn’s Borough Hall and opposite the Post Office) between Johnson and Tillary Streets. Take the #2, 3, 4 or 5 train to “Borough Hall”; the A, C, F train to “Jay Street/MetroTech”; the N or R train to “Court Street.”

On Friday, November 30th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be giving a speech where she will call for the creation of an AIDS-free generation. While this vision is lofty, the practicality of this happening here in the United States is voided by the fact that AIDS housing as a healthcare intervention is being routinely dismissed by NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg, Washington DC’s Mayor Gray, and other governors and officials from all over this country and world. For example:

1. Mayor Bloomberg has reduced the money PWLAs need to pay brokers’ fees to find and secure stable housing
2. Mayor Bloomberg has repeatedly blocked the New York State’s legislators attempts to cap the rents of PLWAs at 30% of their legal income
3. Governor Cuomo has refused to change the definition of HIV-illness to allow poor New Yorkers who are HIV+ to access the housing and supports they need earlier to mitigate the rapid progression of the disease and to eliminate the immoral quagmire of not allowing someone to get help until they allow themselves to get very, very sick.

We are still without a cure and the epidemic continues to devastate New York City and State, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Haiti and other places around the nation and globe. We need to give voice to the scourge of this epidemic and we need you ALL to participate in this World AIDS Day.

Please invite your friends, family, and colleagues to join us for our 12-hour vigil.

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