Jerry Nadler: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise today in opposition to this amendment to eliminate funding for the Housing…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise today in opposition to this amendment to eliminate funding for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, or HOPWA program. This amendment would cut off housing support for tens of thousands of people living with HIV. In doing so, we take ourselves back to the 1980s--when the government ignored the needs of those living with HIV and the urgency of the HIV epidemic. For more than three decades, HOPWA has provided critical support for low-income people living with HIV. HOPWA is a bipartisan program that serves over 75,000 people, providing housing assistance including rental assistance, transitional housing, and permanent housing. Stable housing is essential for helping people living with HIV to achieve better health outcomes. Linking individuals living with HIV to stable, supportive housing is directly linked to decreased viral load, an 80 percent reduction in mortality from AIDS, and a 57 percent reduction in hospitalizations. To destabilize housing for 55,000 households and over 75,000 people would create a public health disaster. Cutting funding to HOPWA would cost far more money in increased healthcare costs than investing in this critical program at the outset. This amendment would significantly impede our Nation's efforts both to support those living with HIV and to end the HIV epidemic. With Veterans Day on Saturday, I also want to inform my colleagues that 10 percent of HOPWA recipients are veterans.…”