Action awarded grant for AIDS housing
December 7, 2002
By RICHARD GAINES, Staff writer

The Gloucester-based anti-poverty agency Action Inc., has received a $1.3 million grant to establish 20 units of assisted-living housing for people in Essex County with the HIV virus and AIDS.

The Thursday announcement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by the offices of 6th District Congressman John Tierney and U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy comes on the heels of a state Department of Public Health report that Gloucester, with 69 cases, has the 18th highest per capita incidence of HIV and AIDS in Massachusetts.

Lynn, with 269 cases, ranked 12th, and Salem, with 75, ranked 23rd.

Action's executive director William Rochford said lack of housing is the most serious deficiency in the array of programs and services for people with HIV/AIDS.

"We are now able to put all the pieces -- of housing, supportive services, job training and placement puzzle together," he said. "This program is what was always needed if we are serious about changing people's lives. It's what community action is all about."

Action will team with the North Shore AIDS Health Project, also located in Gloucester, to spend the grant money to create 20 apartments for low-income persons with HIV/AIDS. The grant-funded project, called Quest, will target individuals, families and former jail inmates.

In addition to the housing, the grant will finance employment training, education and job placement.

Referring to the reports on the state HIV/AIDS per capita incidence study (showing Salem and Lynn also among the top 25 municipalities), Tierney said, "This announcement could not have come at a better time.

"Action, Inc. and the North Shore AIDS Health Project now have an opportunity to create the kind of supportive community that people living with AIDS and their families need to overcome the discrimination and stigma that they encounter so often in their daily living."

Kennedy said, "This grant makes possible a project that will be of substantial benefit to people living with HIV and AIDS and their families in Essex County. With this new housing program, they will have new opportunities to lead independent and fulfilling lives."