New York City Mayor Bloomberg Expected to Lay Out Housing Plan for City Residents with HIV/AIDS

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) tomorrow is expected to outline his administration's plan to create approximately 60,000 housing units throughout the city over the next four years, including "heavily subsidized" apartments for people living with HIV/AIDS, the New York Times reports. Bloomberg will announce the plans tomorrow in a speech to the New York Housing Conference and the National Housing Conference. According to the Times, Bloomberg plans to use a "mix" of funds from "various government entities" to finance the project, including $750 million in Liberty Bonds the federal government granted to the city after the Sept. 11 attacks (Steinhauer, New York Times, 12/9). Approximately 48,000 individuals living in New York City have AIDS and "tens of thousands" more are HIV-positive, according to health officials (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/3). In addition, the New York Times reported on the city's increasing placement of homeless people with HIV/AIDS in single-room occupancy hotels, or SROs, which are "occupied largely by a poor, troubled and sometimes violent population" (Lee, New York Times, 12/8). The complete article is available online.