Amid a national housing crisis, stable housing is the top need reported by GMHC’s new clients living with HIV; it’s also a pressing need for long-term survivors. In response, GMHC has quadrupled its supportive housing capabilities, thanks to transformative grants from federal and New York City agencies.
These grants have increased our Housing Department’s supportive housing from 93 units to 362 for clients, most of whom are living with HIV. In addition to housing assistance, our case managers provide lasting support. Case managers link clients to medical and mental health care needed to achieve an undetectable viral load and support and guidance for staying stably housed.
People living with HIV experience significantly greater housing instability—and when unstably housed, they are four times less likely to achieve full viral suppression.
“Expanding our housing programs has been a long-term strategic goal. Stable housing combined with supportive case management services are critical to achieving viral suppression and improving overall health and wellbeing for our clients,” said Chief Operating Officer Kishani Moreno, who started her non-profit career developing supportive housing programs.
“GMHC embraces the ‘housing is healthcare’ model,” Moreno added. “When a client has a place to call home, they are intrinsically motivated to maintain a connection with their primary care physician, attend appointments, and achieve positive health outcomes.”
GMHC case managers make sure clients are taking their medications, ensure their rent and utilities are being paid, and connect them to other agency services, such as food and nutrition, mental health counseling, legal services, and training sessions for independent living skills.
“It’s very personalized to the client,” said Housing Director Daisy Guzman. “The case manager both advocates for them and makes sure they are doing what they need to do.” If needed, GMHC case managers will escort clients to medical and mental health appointments, she added.
Guzman works as a team with HRA Housing Director Shaunda Turner and Richarleene Walsh, Senior Director, Financial Management and Supporting Replication (SURE) of Housing Interventions. “Daisy, Shaunda, and I have joined forces as a unified housing leadership for GMHC,” Walsh said. Jacquelin Diaz, Vice President, Operations and Programs, oversees the Housing Department.
SURE Housing Initiative and HRA/HASA Program
GMHC is one of 10 organizations selected by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program for a research study grant—Supporting Replication (SURE) of Housing Interventions or the SURE Housing Initiative—to rapidly rehouse up to 75 homeless LGBTQ+ people who are living with HIV and AIDS.
Walsh, the SURE Housing Initiative’s director, said the pilot program aims to drive new government policies to reduce the high level of homelessness for LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are transgender, due to stigma and trauma. GMHC provides housing assistance and trauma-informed case management services to overcome these barriers.
Walsh said one client enrolled in the SURE program was already experiencing bullying in emergency housing when he was diagnosed with HIV. He “was fearful for his life,” she said, if his HIV status became known. “The SURE program is so needed to rapidly rehouse people and get them out of these dangerous situations.”
In October 2023, GMHC added permanent supportive housing for 134 additional clients living with HIV and AIDS, funded by the New York City Human Resources Administration’s HIV/AIDS Service Administration (HRA/HASA) Scatter-Site Housing program. It currently serves 119 New Yorkers in Brooklyn and Queens, said Turner, the program director.
When New Yorkers receive an HIV diagnosis, they’re referred to HRA/HASA for services—generally housing. “That’s where we come in,” Turner said, explaining that high rents aren’t the only barriers to housing for GMHC clients. “Our population of clients is still stigmatized and faces discrimination in housing,” she said. “We jump in to advocate for them and find them a stable living arrangement.”
HOPWA and HUD Programs
GMHC launched its supportive housing operations eight years ago with 25 permanent units for people living with HIV and AIDS through a Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) grant, administered by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Guzman directs the HOPWA program, which has since expanded to 50 units. She also manages a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Rapid Rehousing Program grant secured in 2020 for 43 supportive housing units to youth and families from shelters.
GMHC’s Housing Department has won additional HUD grants to add another 60 supportive housing units, starting this April. The agency’s Health & Housing Connect program provides 35 permanent units for homeless families and individuals living with HIV and AIDS. Our Connection to Housing & Care program provides 25 units to rapidly rehouse people with severe mental illness or substance use for up to 24 months.
In addition to supportive housing programs, our Financial Management program, which Walsh directs, serves up to 400 clients living with HIV and AIDS at risk for eviction, who’ve been referred by the city’s HRA/HASA agency. GMHC acts as a representative payee, administering clients’ Social Security benefits to pay their rent and utilities each month.
Stigma and Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma-informed case management services are the unifying theme for our housing programs since the stigma that many clients experience often arises from their families of origin. Guzman said she recently housed one client living with HIV who left his sister’s home for a shelter, because his sister required him to use a plate, cup, and utensils that she kept in a plastic bag for fear of transmission.
People living with HIV and AIDS can stigmatize themselves, Guzman added. “Some still believe an HIV diagnosis is a death sentence, and they don’t want family members to know.” Many clients still store their HIV medications in vitamin bottles, to keep their status private, she said.
“The stigma demotivates our clients,” Walsh said. “These programs that Daisy, Shaunda, and I oversee increase their morale, so they want to improve their health and livelihood, knowing that GMHC is here to support them.”
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