Brooklyn Judge Rejects Mayor’s Budget Cuts to HIV/AIDS Services Administration

  • April 27, 2011

Federal Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak ruled that the Bloomberg administration cannot implement its proposed budget cuts to the City’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA). Planned reductions would have cut 254 case managers from the agency’s staff and dealt a serious blow to HASA, which provides crucial benefits and social services to tens of thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. Ruling that the cuts violate both a City law governing manager-to-client ratios and a federal court order, Judge Pollak has given the City thirty days to comply with her decision. If the City does not reverse its position, Judge Pollak will issue an enforcement order preventing the cuts. The motion for a temporary restraining order against the City was filed by Matthew Brinckerhoff of ECBAWM, Virginia Shubert, the HIV Law Project, and Housing Works.