Texas: San Antonio AIDS Foundation Offers Refuge for Homeless With HIV and AIDS

A new transitional home for the homeless living with HIV/AIDS opened this month in downtown San Antonio, and the facility already has its first six residents. San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF) purchased the six-bedroom, two-story house near the Government Hill Historic District in July in order to fill the service gap left when Hope Action Care lost federal funding for the Casa Martin shelter. On June 30, Casa Martin closed after 17 years of service.

"These people don't have anywhere to go," said Jose Cervantes, SAAF's director of case management. "So we helped them make the transition. Some stayed at our skilled-nursing facility. Some, we paid for motel rooms or allowed to sleep under our gazebo."

SAAF bought the foreclosed home, valued at $400,000, for $171,000, said David Ewell, its executive director. The facility has 20 beds and will allow residents to stay for up to three months at a time, with the hope they will become self-sufficient either by finding employment or accessing government benefit programs. The house, located near SAAF's skilled-nursing facility on East Grayson Street, will cost $200,000 per year to operate, Ewell said. Bexar County has provided $26,000 for operations, and Ewell said he is asking San Antonio and public and private donors for additional support.

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