Farewell David Hansell

Hansell, ribbon cutting at Stand Up Harlem Houses.

Advocates for low-income New Yorkers were disappointed to learn Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) Commissioner David Hansell is resigning and taking a post in Washington, D.C. as Principal Deputy Assistant for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hansell was widely viewed as an advocate for poor people.

This year, he oversaw the first increase in New York State's basic public assistance grant in 19 years. He also joined the effort to save welfare-to-work job training for people with HIV.

"We wish Commissioner Hansell all the best in his new job. He accomplished a number of important things during his tenure," said Shelley Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the Coalition for the Homeless. "We thank David for his service and hope his successor will work with us to complete the work left to be done, including the development of a progressive plan to address the deepening problem of homelessness in New York State."

Housing Works Vice President of New York Advocacy and Organizing terri smith-caronia said, "Throughout all his roles in city and state government, David Hansell valued community input and was an advocate for poor HIV-positive individuals and families here in New York."

A Dedicated New Yorker

Hansell was appointed to the OTDA post after working as Human Resources Administration chief-of-staff to HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) commissioner Verna Eggleston, where he revamped and modernized HASA centers. A former Gay Men's Health Crisis staffer, Hansell remained an ally to community organizations, alerting the community to discrepancies in the rental share paid by HASA tenants versus other rental programs.

From 1997 to 2001, Hansell was the Associate Commissioner for HIV Services at the New York City Department of Health and was the government representative for the NYC HIV Prevention Planning Group. He played a crucial role helping the DOH provide funding to combat HIV/AIDS in communities of color.

Hansell was instrumental in the creation of Housing Works' Stand Up Harlem Houses, which provide housing to homeless or drug-addicted people living with HIV/AIDS in Harlem.

For a variety of reasons, many of them political, the Harlem facility took 17 years to complete. "I've followed the tortured history of this project, and it could have been abandoned at so many points," Hansell told the Update at Stand Up Harlem's ribbon cutting ceremony in October. "Once we make a commitment to a project, we maintain that commitment. We know there is a very high need in this community."