Research findings demonstrate overall stability and connection to care among people living with AIDS (PLWAs) who are adequately housed, providing important empirical evidence that homeless and unstably housed persons with lifelong chronic care needs, including those who are mentally ill and/or chemically dependent, can live in independent settings if provided with necessary supports, that they will voluntarily access supportive services that they perceive to be relevant and respectful, and that they will, once stably housed, become active participants in their own medical and psychosocial care.

Why AIDS housing? HIV/AIDS remains unique in that it combines an infectious agent; potentially fatal consequences; rapid spread in vulnerable populations; and the potential for the development of drug-resistant strains. HIV is highly treatable with antiretroviral therapy that substantially reduces mortality and morbidity. Housing improves access to this treatment.

Research shows that the receipt of housing assistance is linked to reduction of HIV risk behaviors and positive change in medical outcomes. There is a strong relationship between housing status and HIV risk and health outcomes, controlling for other client characteristics, health status, and service use variables. These findings suggest that the condition of homelessness, and not simply traits of homeless individuals, influences risk behaviors and health service utilization. Housing affects an individual’s ability to avoid exposure to HIV; an HIV-positive individual’s ability to avoid exposing others to HIV; and the ability to access and adhere to care. (National AIDS Housing Coalition, 2007)

• Thirty-six percent of all HIV positive individuals in the United States have been homeless at some point since their diagnosis, and 50% will need some form of housing assistance during their lifetime.
• There are over 17,000 reported living individuals with HIV/AIDS in Philadelphia.
• In Philadelphia, PLWAs are three times as likely to have been homeless than that of the general population.
• The all-cause death rate among homeless HIV positive persons is five times the rate of death among housed persons with HIV/AIDS.
• Stable housing improves access and adherence to antiretroviral therapy, which reduces viral load and may lower the risk of HIV transmission.
• Persons with HIV/AIDS at all stages of illness who are homeless are almost three times as likely as those with stable housing to be outside of the HIV medical care system, indicated by not having any outpatient visits for the prior six to twelve months.
• People with housing needs who get any kind of practical housing assistance are almost four times more likely to enter into medical care than those who do not get housing assistance.