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February 27, 2008
Suing to Keep an AIDS Site Open
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is suing the Los Angeles Housing Department to prevent the closing of a former AIDS hospice turned case management office, the Los Angeles Times reports (latimes.com, 2/24).
According to the Times, the former hospice, Linn House, opened in 1995, but since 1999 it has operated as an office and meeting space for HIV social workers, case managers and support groups.
City officials say that the loan that built Linn House was not intended for offices or administration. “The law very clearly requires that the money that was lent to the foundation be used for housing,” said Mercedes Marquez, general manager of the housing department, in the article.
The AHF has argued that the city has known about the new usage of the facility since 2000 and has waived its right to impose the loan contract.
“When we conceived this facility and built it, people were dying within 30 months of being diagnosed with AIDS,” foundation President Michael Weinstein said in the article. “We should be celebrating that this change took place, not punishing the organization that came to the rescue.”
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Previous Comments:
comments 1 - 3 (of 3 total)
James, los angeles, 2008-02-28 12:41:38
Unfortunately i doubt this is about services provided at the facility. I went there for nutrition counseling, plus a workshop on ADAP. The building houses a offices(social work)and provides some client services. This building is, if not IN West Hollywood, so close you could skip there in a heartbeat. Obviously the value of space in West Hollywood to the city usurps services they could possibly provide there, with funding being cut(almost daily), even if they postpone it, they want the land.
Barb Bryon, Seattle, 2008-02-27 23:03:21
I'm just curious,do the staff meet while the clients are being served? Maybe creating a rule like that could keep the space opened and are the clients being served signing petitions and making awareness known? Good luck. I know safe established places are hard to come by
Barb poz lady
cammyc, Holden MA, 2008-02-27 19:46:39
if the hospice provided hospice services, couldn't they at least branch into something like HIV housing, so they are still putting a roof over hiv positive heads?
