CLIENT INFORMATION
TO QUALIFY
You must have a diagnosis of disabling HIV/AIDS or Breast Cancer. You must be a resident of San Francisco County. Your total monthly income must be $1,960 or less.
TO APPLY

You must come to our office in person, during our business hours. If you are incapable of coming in, a social worker or someone with your legal/financial power of attorney can conduct business for you. We require:

a current letter of diagnosis from a local medical doctor. It must be an original and state that you have disabling HIV/AIDS or Breast Cancer

current verification of monthly income

picture I.D.

a rental agreement (if we are to pay rent) or a bill to be paid.
We must have the original letter of diagnosis to process your first request. Once payment of the first request has been made, you may have the original back or leave it with us to keep on file.
PAYMENTS

Upon completion of your file, you are eligible to present up to $600 in housing, utility or medical bills in your first year.* This money may be used to pay for:

RENT: We will pay only the actual owner of the property -- not friends or roommates.

PHONE & UTILITES: We pay 15-day notices, shut-off notices, and disconnection notices only.

Medical Expenses: We pay medical insurance premiums, and medical expenses not covered by insurance. Please bring the bills with you.

Pre-arranged funeral costs.

Payment is made only to the actual provider of goods and services (the vendor). When bills are owed by multiple parties, we will pay only your share.
OUR CHECKS

do not have our agency name or telephone number on them. They do have your name and your vendor account number on them whenever possible.

Checks are mailed directly to service providers and/or property owners.

Once all documents are received, it takes 1-2 weeks to approve the grant, write the check, and have it signed.

We are not responsible for any delays you may incur due to delays at the post office. We will consider the reissuance of any check only after a reasonable amount of time has passed (usually about a month).
RENEWAL
Recipients may reapply for a second grant one year from the date they first applied. In order to renew, we require current verification of income, new verification of disabled status for Breast Cancer-disabled or HIV-disabled patients, and a new formal rental agreement if you have moved and still need rental assistance. You will also need to fill out renewal forms at our office. Current financial assistance in your second year is $500.*

*The amount of money we can offer in grants is determined by the amount of money we can reasonably hope to raise during the year, divided by the number of clients requesting help. We are an emergency fund -- not a financial subsidy. That is why we must limit our grants.

Due to the financial constraints of the agency this year and the policy of the board of directors that we remain an emergency fund and not an annual entitlement, clients who have accessed grants from us in any two years since January 1, 1997 are not eligible for assistance in 2003.