By:Elizabeth Sagarin
City dumps AIDS patients in IP motel
When Gary Ingram heard that 11 homeless people, eight HIV positive, had been placed at a motel in Island Park without food or money for a week, he felt compelled to help.
Ingram immediately contacted local food merchants, asking them to donate meals to the impoverished bunch, which included the 12-year-old son of one man in the group.
Food poured in from all kinds of sources. One of the first to respond was Luis Buitrago, owner of Chicken Holiday in Island Park. He brought over hot chicken meals with mashed potatoes and vegetables for all 11 people.
They were hungry. I brought food over to them because they needed it,Buitrago said from behind the counter of his establishment on Friday night.
The people, who come from all over New York City, showed up at the city Division of AIDS Services in search of emergency housing on Monday, March 12. They said the agency told them that no accommodations could be provided in the city because of the coming St. Patrick's Day parade and other holiday weekend festivities.
The agency declined to comment specifically about the 11 people but faxed a release stating that DASIS refers, on the same day, individuals seeking emergency housing to medically appropriate housing with minimum dislocation. The city places individuals outside the city limits if appropriate housing is not available at the time requested. In these instances, DASIS offers its clients transportation, including carfare and van service to and from the emergency facility.
A man calling himself Leon, who would not give his last name, was the first to alert the media to the group's plight after the city agency dropped them off in Island Park. He said that if the group didn't agree to be shipped out of the city, the agency said it would not provide housing for them until the next week. Because of the media coverage, Ingram became involved.
Faced with sleeping on the street, the group decided to travel outside the city despite the lack of public assistance. Gary Cooper was forced to take his son out of school for a week. I miss school. There's nothing to do here but watch television,the 12-year-old said.
Almost all members of the group are on some form of public assistance. Those that are HIV positive receive enhanced cash benefits, according to the city agency. DASIS clients receive $193.50 semi-monthly. They also receive an average of $127 in food stamps monthly, the agency said. If clients haven't been in the system long enough to receive benefits, they can access emergency funds on a daily basis at a rate of $16 per day.
Members of the group who weren't eligible for public assistance and were in need of emergency funds said that emergency money can be accessed only from facilities in the five boroughs, where records of their financial status are kept. According to Marty Algaze, an advocate from the Gay Men's Health Crisis, some money should have been given to those who don't receive public assistance money or social services' money.
To get to the city to get money, they had to ride the train from Island Park at a round-trip cost of $12. Upon returning to the Island, they had $4 left and spent that not on food but either on bus or car fare from the train station to the motel, they said.
The fact that the motel rooms were not equipped with kitchen facilities only compounded their helplessness, they added. Leon explained that one of the men was severely mentally disabled and probably in need of medication. God forbid anything should happen, but what if something happened with him,he said.
After seeing the amount of concern local people had for them, the group's spirits were bolstered. Yet, negativity loomed over their heads when thoughts of Monday, the day they returned to the city, came up. On Monday evening, many of them would have to be placed in housing again. We never get a chance to stay at a place long enough to get a job and make our lives better,said Darnell Jacobs, one man not infected with the virus that leads to AIDS. He looks after a woman named Racquel Tucker, who, along with AIDS, suffers from seizures that resulted, she said, from being beaten over a four-day period in an abandoned building where she was held against her will.
Admittedly, some members of the group have made poor choices in their lives. They have used drugs and alcohol, which a woman who has been in the system for two months, Arlene Chase, said impaired their ability to make sound choices regarding sexual activity. Others, men and women, were rape victims who contracted the disease from their offenders.
And, according to Irvin McGee and Jacobs, two uninfected men, they fell on hard times after their long-time companions committed adultery. Before becoming homeless, Jacobs said, he worked in a print shop and as a custodian. He said when he found out about his girlfriend, he left and had no place to go. McGee, who said he has worked as a roofer, a sider and a cook, said he, too, had no place to go after leaving a girlfriend who had cheated on him.
Whatever their current condition, these people say they want to be self-sufficient and productive members of society. Give us time to settle, give me 30 days to find a job and work. I know I can do better,Jacobs said, drawing agreement from others in his group.
