Oregon Balance of State HIV/AIDS Housing & Services Systems ...

46 Oregon HIV/AIDS Housing and Services Systems Integration Plan
grant targeted to serve 55 individuals released from incarceration, through a coordinated effort of
OHOP, the Department of Corrections, and an array of other partners.
13. Lack of Housing Options
Offenders living with HIV/AIDS face challenges related to their criminal histories as well as their
health diagnoses. They are screened out of public and private housing by background checks, and
can find it difficult to transition to mainstream housing assistance programs such as Section 8 from
the OHOP program.
14. Multiple Risk Factors
Poverty, credit problems, substance abuse and mental illness are common among prison inmates,
and may be magnified by their chronic health condition(s). Debts both related and unrelated to
convictions climb while a person is incarcerated and in treatment, which may be required by the
justice system. Housing and family situations are disrupted and may be difficult or impossible to reestablish.
Such risk factors translate into high service needs – and gaps in receiving services – when
prisoners return to the community.
Primary Care, Hospitals and Assisted Living
15. Lack of Research and Resources for People Living with HIV/AIDS
Steering Committee members identified a need for more assisted living and long-term care options
(including in-home assistance) for people living longer with HIV, and those suffering from chronic
diseases like diabetes, which provider observation suggests emerge earlier and more frequently
among people with HIV than in the general population. The lack of research in the arena of chronic
diseases among people living with HIV/AIDS limits the care a patient has access to. For example,
when screening or preventative measures exist, insurance may not fund those measures for people
with AIDS if they lack other risk factors.
16. Additional Housing Challenges
Holding housing units and maintaining housing assistance as people cycle in and out of assisted
living situations can be difficult, and can require modifications to rules and incur additional
administrative costs. People with chronic diseases may need additional accommodations within
their living units, or may need to live closer to health providers, limiting their ability to move or
choose among housing options. Moreover, traditional assisted-living environments for elderly
people may not be a good fit for younger (middle-aged) people living with HIV/AIDS. The
difficulty of placing clients in assisted living is broader than the HIV/AIDS population but is a
challenge statewide.
Employment
17. Limited Coordination Among Employment, Service, and Housing Systems
Additional coordination and improved awareness of service needs and available resources are
needed between AIDS and employment service systems. Typically, employment centers (such as
One Stop Centers established under the federal Workforce Investment Act) are evaluated based on
number of successful job placements and similar measures. This may discourage them from serving
clients with the multiple challenges that people living with HIV/AIDS may have (including gaps in