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

54 Oregon HIV/AIDS Housing and Services Systems Integration Plan
Action steps may include:
• Conduct outreach to agencies that serve people released from prison and jail in Oregon, such
as Sponsors and Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, and provide materials
and education around HIV/AIDS and the HOPWA program to staff and clients.
• Work with landlords (such as those in high vacancy areas) as well as community- and faithbased
organizations who are willing to consider tenants with criminal histories, and help to
build bridges between these landlords and community corrections officers and service
providers.
• Consider master leasing (an eligible HOPWA program activity) as a strategy to provide
housing for clients who face the highest barriers to obtaining private market housing.
• Connect with the Governor’s Reentry Task Force, whose members were announced in
November 2007.
• Explore opportunities to access federal and private resources to support the safe and
successful transition of prisoners (including those with HIV/AIDS) to the community, such as
the U.S. Department of Justice’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative. 90
Primary Care, Hospitals and Assisted Living
15. Anticipate that clients may need periodic or long-term care in assisted living situations
while setting OHOP policies and allocating resources.
Strategize ways to ensure that housing assistance can continue if clients must move temporarily or
permanently into assisted living situations, including planning to make transitions smooth.
Incorporate information on this emerging challenge in OHOP and HIV Care and Treatment staff
trainings and discussion. Consider ways to provide services to clients in their own homes when
appropriate, as an alternative to long-term hospitalizations.
16. Conduct outreach about emerging primary care and assisted living needs of people
living with HIV/AIDS, including to providers of these services.
Connect with the Oregon Health Care Association to raise awareness among members about the
changing needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and co-occurring chronic diseases. Seek improved
connections to and partnerships with hospitals and health care providers, including assisted-living
providers, to promote the successful integration of people with HIV/AIDS into their services and
seamless transitions from one setting to another. Ensure that health department and other outreach
workers are educated and kept up to date on OHOP resources, program activities, and policies.
Advocate to increase the availability of a continuum assisted living supports, using the challenges of
people living with HIV/AIDS in gaining access to such supports to illustrate the need.
Employment
17. Collaborate with workforce systems to provide employment supports and training for
people living with HIV/AIDS.
90 Available online: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/reentry.html (Accessed: February 1, 2008).