As Philadelphia residents, we live in a city where 19,000 people are living with HIV and approximately 1,400 residents will contract the virus by next year. These numbers make Philly sixth in the nation for the highest proportion of individuals living with HIV/AIDS and showcase a new infection rate that’s five times the national average.
Since the first cases were identified in the early 1980s, the medical and public health fields have made enormous advances in HIV detection and care. For those with access to medical care and medication, advances in HIV/AIDS treatment options have changed it from an acute terminal illness to a chronic disease.
But medication adherence is crucial. Studies have shown that failure to adhere strictly to medication regimens can promote viral resistance and negatively impact the long-term health of individuals with HIV/AIDS.
The relationship among stable housing and medical care and medication adherence is well-documented. Again and again, studies have demonstrated that stably housed individuals with HIV/AIDS are better able to access and regularly adhere to their lifesaving medication regimens and — as a consequence — suffer fewer life-threatening infections.
In a 2005 policy report, the National AIDS Housing Coalition argued that, for people living with HIV/AIDS, housing is health care.
Housing as health care saves lives, and it saves money. In 2010, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that subsidized housing for individuals with HIV/AIDS saves taxpayer dollars by decreasing the frequency of hospital admissions and shelter visits.
Despite this, Philadelphia currently devotes zero direct city funding toward housing people living with HIV/AIDS. Many other major U.S. cities battling high rates of HIV (including nearby New York) have responded to the public health research by supplementing federal HIV/AIDS housing funding with municipal funds.
Philadelphia’s AIDS Activities Coordinating Office, a division of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, recently reported that nearly 8,000 Philadelphians living with HIV/AIDS have unmet housing needs.
Next week, Mayor Michael Nutter will deliver his budget address to the City of Philadelphia. AIDS activists throughout the city are once again gearing up to fight for an HIV/AIDS housing line item in the budget — because housing saves lives and taxpayer dollars.
Lisa Jacobs is a 2012 Master of Social Work candidate at Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice. Her e-mail address is jacobsli@sp2.upenn.edu.
