Health policy

We’re Still Here: A Call for Funding for San Franciscans Aging with HIV

SFAF and ALRP are calling on our city to make a $300,000 investment in programs supporting older adults living with HIV.

By Jonathan Frochtzwajg

September 18, 2025 2 Minute Read

Paul Aguilar, a long-term survivor, participates End the Epidemics’ Day of Action (Photo: SFAF)

For over four decades, San Francisco has been a leader in supporting community members living with HIV. Now, thanks to advances in HIV treatment, many San Franciscans living with HIV are surviving into old age: 74% of people living with HIV in our city are older than 50.

People living with HIV face unique challenges as they age:

Likely due to chronic inflammation caused by HIV, they commonly experience health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Because of the destructive effects of the HIV epidemic on their social networks, long-term HIV survivors experience social isolation and loneliness at a higher rate than other older adults.

LGBTQ+ older adults living with HIV are more likely than LGBTQ+ seniors in general to experience post-traumatic stress disorder and need financial assistance.

The distinct difficulties encountered by San Franciscans aging with HIV requires a distinct response from San Francisco’s aging-services system. However, the city’s Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS) has never provided any funding specifically for services focused on older adults living with HIV.

That’s why two of San Francisco’s leading providers of HIV-and-aging services, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, are calling on our city to correct this historical inequity by making a $300,000 investment in programs supporting older adults living with HIV.

We demand that the city finally fund the trusted and impactful programs providing social support, food assistance, outreach, service navigation, client advocacy, mental health care, and other services to San Franciscans aging with HIV.

Just as San Francisco stepped up at the height of the AIDS epidemic to help people affected by the disease survive, our city must now step up to help the survivors thrive. We urge San Francisco to maintain its legacy on HIV by investing in vital services for our HIV elders.

For more information, please contact Jonathan Frochtzwajg, with San Francisco AIDS Foundation, at jfrochtzwajg@sfaf.org.