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The HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) does not meet the housing needs of its clients, according to an audit by New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. The audit determined that HASA, which is within the Human Resources Administration (HRA), is not efficient in processing clients’ applications for permanent housing and does not comply with its own time frame to process requests for financial assistance for clients who have secured a valid lease or letter of intent to rent.

The audit also found that HASA processed only 14 – or 44 percent – of 32 sampled financial assistance request packages within the required five business days.

“I am troubled by a number of weaknesses that make it difficult for HASA to find permanent housing for people with HIV and AIDS,” Thompson said. “People are looking to the City for help and instead are facing delays and roadblocks. This needs to stop.”

“HASA should be a lifeline for people with AIDS in New York City. It is anything but. These delays and inefficiencies can literally mean life and death for a HASA client,” added City Councilmember Christine C. Quinn. “They are unacceptable and must be immediately addressed. Fixing HASA needs to be a top priority of City Hall. That is what the law requires and what people with HIV and AIDS deserve.”

HASA was created in fiscal year 2000 to replace the Division of AIDS Services within HRA. HASA is responsible for expediting access to essential benefits and services needed by persons living with AIDS and HIV-related illnesses and their families. HASA provides social, financial, and vocational services to eligible individuals and families, as well as housing assistance, including permanent and transitional housing, to those who are homeless or potentially homeless. As of June 30, 2002, HASA had 30,129 open cases and had provided housing and support services to clients for 6,236 of them.

Thompson’s audit, which covered July 2001 to October 2002, included reviews of case files and interviews with personnel from the Housing Unit and HASA’s 12 field centers.

The audit concluded that case managers do not track progress of applications. Case managers at the 12 centers followed up on only 10 – or 7 percent - of the 142 housing applications they submitted to the Housing Unit for 104 sampled clients. Of the 10 follow-ups, managers initiated six, while the remaining four were in response to inquiries from other parties, such as the client’s doctor.

“A number of clients who filed applications had been living in temporary placements for a long period of time,” Thompson said.

One client, for example, was living at a health-care facility for at least 16 months, and had completed four housing applications within a year. Yet, the client still was waiting for an apartment to leave the facility. Records show the case manager had not placed any calls to check on applications.

Additionally, HASA procedures do not adequately govern the placement process. Both the Housing Unit and case managers work to find permanent housing for clients, but procedures do not clearly delineate the responsibilities of both in that endeavor. These deficiencies could lead to clients’ being excluded from interviews for housing.

The audit noted that center directors were unfamiliar with the placement process of clients into housing, and the Housing Unit did not notify centers about the status of client applications. There also was an inadequate system for case file management at the centers and Housing Unit.

“It is essential for effective and efficient case management that HASA ensure that its field centers have adequate controls in place for securing clients’ records, particularly since its clients are oftentimes reassigned to different case managers or transferred to different field centers,” Thompson said.

Comptroller Thompson made seven recommendations, including that HRA should:

1) More fully develop the HASA procedures manual to clearly define the housing placement process.
2) Ensure that HASA management develops monitoring tools to track the housing placement process.
3) Ensure that Case Financial Assessment packages are processed in a more timely manner and that key events related to the processing are documented in the case files.
4) Ensure that supervisors and/or directors track the timeliness in process those packages.

HRA officials acknowledged the problems identified in the audit and indicated that HASA has been instituting corrective measures to improve its efficiency in processing housing applications.