PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Alex Clavering, Staff Attorney at Legal Services NYC
1:32:47
ยท
3 min
Alex Clavering, a staff attorney at Legal Services NYC, testifies about the importance of expanding HASA eligibility to all individuals with HIV and highlights significant issues with HASA's current operations, particularly in The Bronx. He emphasizes the need for reforms to ensure HASA delivers on its promises to vulnerable populations.
- Clavering presents a case study of a trans client who has been denied emergency housing assistance despite clear eligibility and dire circumstances.
- He argues that the proposed amendment to expand HASA eligibility is crucial but insufficient without addressing operational issues within HASA.
- The testimony underscores the interconnection between housing and healthcare, and the need for New York City to protect its most vulnerable residents in the face of growing hostility towards LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive individuals.
Alex Clavering
1:32:47
My name is Alex Clebring.
1:32:49
I'm a staff attorney with the LGBTQ plus advocacy project at Legal Services NYC in The Bronx.
1:32:55
I provide legal representation to low income LGBTQ plus New Yorkers, many of whom are living with HIV and struggling to access the services they need to survive.
1:33:05
Annually our dedicated advocates help over a hundred thousand low income NYC residents.
1:33:12
People living with HIV need access to HASAS life sustaining and saving benefits.
1:33:16
Our current local law, specifically New York City administrative code section 21 dash one twenty six, is a vestige of outdated language and notions.
1:33:25
Ensuring eligibility to all individuals with HIV is not just the right thing to do, it is a necessary public health measure that will prevent suffering and save lives.
1:33:34
This issue is especially urgent in light of the rising wave of discrimination against LGBTQ plus individuals and people living with HIV.
1:33:43
In this climate this bill would lay the groundwork for ensuring that every person living with HIV has access to the services they need without unnecessary restrictions or stigma.
1:33:52
While expanding eligibility as the amendment to New York City administrative code section 21 dash one twenty six does is a critical step, It is not enough on its own.
1:34:01
HASA, particularly in The Bronx, all too often has been failing the people it is supposed to serve.
1:34:06
My colleagues and I regularly work with clients who have waited months, sometimes over a year for services that should have been provided in days.
1:34:13
Clients are denied emergency housing when they are clearly eligible.
1:34:16
They are met with bureaucratic roadblocks that delay or prevent access to food and transportation assistance.
1:34:22
We have been working with mister Crane since fall of twenty twenty four to obtain an emergency grant for rental arrears and to prevent eviction.
1:34:31
Despite repeated advocacy, HASSA has failed him at every step.
1:34:35
Mister Cain fell into arrears through no fault of his own.
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This client's landlord refused to provide him with lease renewals, so rental increases were not budgeted into his HASA benefits.
1:34:44
We were able to reopen the client's HASA case, which had been erroneously closed, and correct the ongoing shelter benefits.
1:34:51
Nevertheless, HASA still refused to approve an emergency grant that would satisfy the rental arrears accrued.
1:34:56
Our client is especially vulnerable.
1:34:58
He identifies as trans, is chronically ill, and has a history of homelessness.
1:35:02
We have provided HASA with medical records showing the client has been hospitalized well over 20 times since the eviction case was filed.
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He is also acutely immunocompromised having suffered multiple cases of COVID, pneumonia, and other infections.
1:35:13
On top of this, he is dealing with clinical depression and anxiety and is extremely afraid of having to enter the shelter system, both as a chronically and acutely ill individual and as a trans man.
1:35:22
We reapplied and submitted several requests for reconsideration of the emergency grant, which have all been denied to this date.
1:35:28
There has been no attempt on the part of HASSA to have a social worker reach out to personally assist with this client, with the emergency grant, or to explain these denials to him.
1:35:35
Despite multiple requests, HASSA has yet to provide written denials, ignoring its own assurances.
1:35:40
HASSA claims it denied the grant due to quote, lack of proof that he paid rent in the past three months.
1:35:45
We explained that our client was hospitalized and unable physically to go cash his Social Security checks to pay his share.
UNKNOWN
1:35:50
Your time has expired.
1:35:52
Thank you.
Diana Ayala
1:35:52
You go ahead.
1:35:53
You can wrap it up.
Alex Clavering
1:35:54
Upon being discharged from a month long hospital stay, he escrowed a share of the rent with our office in December of twenty twenty four.
1:36:00
Has ceased communication with our office ignoring multiple update requests even as he faces a new eviction notice.
1:36:06
The amendment represents a necessary step toward a more just and humane system, one that recognizes that no one should have to wait until they are gravely ill to help.
1:36:14
It acknowledges that housing and health care are intertwined and that access to services should be based on medical facts and arbitrary legal distinctions.
1:36:20
It also asserts that in this moment of growing hostility towards LGBTQ plus and HIV positive individuals, New York City must lead the way in protecting and supporting its most vulnerable residents.
1:36:29
Our clients would benefit greatly from the passage of this bill and are in need of meaningful reforms to ensure that HASA delivers on this promise.
1:36:36
Thank you for your time and consideration.