Homelessness and housing assistance among persons with HIV, and associations with HIV care and viral suppression, New York City 2018

by Ellen Weiss Wiewel, Yaoyu Zhong, Qiang Xia, Christopher M. Beattie, Paul A. Brown, Pam X. Farquhar, John F. Rojas

To measure housing assistance and homelessness among persons living with HIV (PLWH) and their association with health.

Exposure categories were: experiencing homelessness (per emergency shelter use or self-report), receiving housing assistance (per housing subsidy) without homelessness, or neither homelessness nor receiving housing assistance. Outcomes were: engagement (≥1 visit) and retention (≥2 visits ≥90 days apart) in HIV-related medical care and one-time (latest viral load) and durable (≥1 viral load test, all suppressed) HIV viral suppression (<200 copies/mL). Among PLWH in New York City (NYC), we calculated and conducted modified Poisson regressions of the four outcomes according to exposure category.

During 2018, 45% of NYC’s 84,053 PLWH received housing assistance, and 8% experienced homelessness. Relative to homelessness, receipt of assistance without homelessness was associated with 3–7% higher adjusted relative risk (ARR) of engagement and retention in care and 31–64% higher ARR of one-time and durable viral suppression. Relative to not receiving assistance, receipt of assistance without homelessness was associated with 6–18% higher ARR of care and 2–5% lower ARR of viral suppression.

Programs promoting housing stability may support HIV care and viral suppression, particularly if preventing homelessness. These may help improve HIV care and suppression rates.