VOCAL-NY works on issue advocacy campaigns that are chosen and led by grassroots community leaders focused on making concrete improvements in their lives. VOCAL-NY also works with research partners to monitor and report on key budget, legislative and policy issues affecting our communities. View our issues page for fact sheets and reports on our policy advocacy.
Thousands of low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS are at risk of homelessness because the city’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) rental assistance program denies them affordable housing. Permanently disabled tenants in the program are forced to pay upwards of 70 percent or more of their disability income towards rent each month. This deeply flawed policy forces tenants to choose between visiting the doctor, buying groceries, keeping the phone turned on or paying rent. Many are unable to save enough each month for rent, fall into arrears and then end up homeless in the emergency shelter system. VOCAL-NY members are working to pass an affordable housing protection to ensure no HASA client pays more than 30 percent of their income towards their rent, the same standard that already exists in every other comparable low-income housing program in the state.
AIDS is the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age worldwide, including African American women between the ages of 25 – 34 in the US. Millions of people living with HIV/AIDS overseas are denied lifesaving drugs because wealthy countries are scaling back their commitment to ensuring all those who need treatment can access it, while over 9,000 people in the US are on AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting lists for treatment because of funding shortfalls.
A Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), also known as the “Robin Hood Tax,” would be a tiny tax on financial transaction that would raise billions annually to domestic and international healthcare programs, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM). A FTT would also discourage some of the most harmful kinds of financial speculation that destabilized economies around the world.
New York has led the nation in promoting syringe access programs as a public health intervention to reduce HIV and viral hepatitis transmission. However, police harassment and arrests for legal syringe possession have discouraged participation in these public health programs. Leaders in the VOCAL-NY Users Union won a campaign in 2010 to fix the state Penal Code and clarify it is legal to possess new and used syringes obtained through a public health program, as well as require ongoing education of law enforcement. Fatal overdose is a leading cause of accidental death in New York even though it can be prevented if there is a timely response. VOCAL-NY also helped lead a campaign that won a new “911 Good Samaritan” law to prevent fatal overdose by encouraging people to call 911. Our members are now working to ensure effective implementation of both new laws.
Whether someone has stable housing and a job when they come home from prison or jail are the most important factors in successful reentry. But a number of housing policies create barriers to housing for people who are formerly incarcerated, including discrimination by public housing authorities and the lack of supportive housing. Moreover, persistent employment discrimination and a lack of good jobs in communities of color most impacted by incarceration make work is hard to find. VOCAL-NY is working to expand a range of housing and employment opportunities for people who are formerly incarcerated.About 41,000 New Yorkers are working in their community and caring for their families but are denied the right to vote because they are on parole. Voter disenfranchisement laws have their roots in New York’s own Jim Crow past, and 80% of those denied the right to vote because of their parole status in our state are African-American or Latino. VOCAL-NY leaders are working with legislators to urge Governor Cuomo to issue an executive order restoring the right to people on parole.
New York City and State face historic revenue crises that could unravel the fragile safety net serving the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including housing for people living with HIV/AIDS. Since 2009, Mayor Bloomberg has tried to slash case management in supportive housing programs for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS every year. VOCAL-NY is working with allies in the City Council to continue preserving the safety net for vulnerable New Yorkers, especially homeless and low-income people living with HIV/AIDS.
Prison-Based Gerrymandering: Prison inmates are counted where they are incarcerated for the purpose of legislative redistricting – even though they have no voting rights – instead of the communities where they come from and will eventually return. We helped convene the statewide Correct the Count coalition to win a new civil rights law that counts people who are incarcerated in their home communities for redistricting. The new law was signed by Governor Paterson in August 2010 and we are now working to ensure full implementation.
Wall Street Accountability & Progressive Revenue: Even though the recession was caused by poor regulation and unchecked greed by Wall Street banks, along with growing income inequality, low-income and middle class New Yorkers are being saddle with the consequences. Through National People’s Action (NPA), New Deal for New York and other coalitions, we are working to create an economy that works for everyone by creating jobs and ensuring all New Yorkers have their basic needs met.
Low-Income Housing Opportunities and Anti-Displacement: While the housing boom in New York City failed to address persistently high rates of homelessness, it did lead to explosive growth in the number of luxury condos. Since the housing bubble burst, many of those luxury condos now sit vacant even though our homeless shelter population is at record highs. We are on the steering committee for Right to the City (RTTC) and active in the “Condo Conversion” campaign to convert vacant condos into housing for low-income New Yorkers.
