On May 20, the New York City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus delivered a letter to Mayor Eric Adams expressing their concern over funding cuts to HIV/AIDS services and called on the city to restore the contracts. Below is text of the letter:
Hon. Eric Adams
Mayor
City of New York
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Dear Mayor Adams:
We, the members of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus and our colleagues on the New York City Council, write to express our deep concern about the loss of services for New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS that will be caused by the Administration’s January Plan Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEGs) to the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Health and Mental Health (NYC Health Department). We understand that there are at least $5.3 million in cuts to NYC Health Department HIV and AIDS programs in addition to the cut by HRA to the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) workforce development programs.
Critical services that for years have helped New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS live long and healthy lives are under threat by this Administration’s unnecessary cuts. The community-based organizations (CBOs) that are partners with NYC Health Department and HRA to provide HIV treatment and prevention will not be able to deliver programs as a direct result of these cuts. These CBOs serve a client population with a long history of mistrust in government and healthcare-related service delivery. Cutting funding to CBOs that have built a relationship and reputation with clients over decades harms our city’s ability to end the epidemic. In just two examples, Callen-Lorde and GMHC will lose a combined $1.6 million directly to programs such as The Undetectables, Crystal Meth Harm Reduction, HIV Prevention and Literacy: Older Adults Programs, and Realizing Independence Through Support and Employment (RISE), a workforce development program that empowers HASA clients with the resources they need to live independent and healthy lives.
According to the NYC Health Department’s 2022 HIV Surveillance report, 43% of newly diagnosed people in 2022 were Black, 40% were Latino/Hispanic, and 41% of newly diagnosed people lived in high or very high poverty ZIP codes. These cuts to the NYC Health Department affect New York’s most vulnerable communities and come at the same time as NYC Health Department launches its HealthyNYC: New York City’s Campaign for Healthier, Longer Lives, which simply does not make sense and in fact undermines that worthy mission.
Additionally, the financial justification for the January 2024 Financial Plan PEGs no longer exists. Since the presentation of that plan, the financial forecast of the City has changed for the positive. In fact, on February 21, 2024, the Administration announced the cancellation of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Executive Budget Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) for city agencies.
These unnecessary cuts are dangerous to the health and well-being of New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS, threaten the fiscal health of agencies that are pillars in the LGBTQIA +and HIV communities, and undermine the City’s plan to end the HIV epidemic. In fact, according to the NYC DOHMH 2022 HIV Surveillance report, the reduction in new HIV infections has plateaued, falling only 2% since 2021, evidence that our city should be investing more in prevention and treatment efforts.
All PEGs that impact the provision of HIV and AIDS services should be reversed and all contracts should have their full funding restored.
As an epicenter of the HIV epidemic in this country, it is critical for New York City’s HIV and AIDS services infrastructure to remain funded, especially for the low-income communities of color who continue to be disproportionately affected by the virus.
We need your help to restore $1.1 million of proposed cuts in the upcoming New York City budget impacting three of GMHC’s programs.
Email Mayor Adams and your NYC Council Member by clicking here.
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