ABSTRACT
Ralph Hernandez was kicked out of his New York City apartment after his AIDS-related symptoms cost him his job with a window replacement company. According to Partnership for Homeless, of more than 90,000 homeless people in New York City, up to 8,000 have AIDS or ARC. New York City is most extreme example of the emerging crisis, but convergence of AIDS and homelessness is becoming increasingly evident around the country. New York State's Department of Health does require that any shelter resident who gets close enough to a doctor to be diagnosed as having AIDS must be hospitalized until appropriate housing is found by Human Resources Administration. Deniece Clarke is a thirty-five-year-old black American born in the Bronx. A longtime IV drug user, she and her nine-year-old daughter have AIDS. The largest group of AIDS homeless is single men. AIDS has been discussed in terms of middle-class gay men on one hand and "underclass" IV drug users on the other.
