The historic Braniff flight attendant housing building
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
AIDS Services of Dallas has rebranded and is now known as ASD — A Home for Life. ASD CEO Traswell Livingston said the new name is intended to reduce stigma and more accurately describe what the agency does.
“AIDS as a condition is so rare,” Livingston said. “Everything is about HIV.”
HIV is the virus that attacks the immune system and causes the condition known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Synrome — or AIDS. Medication has been available since the late 1990s that controls the HIV virus in most people and prevents AIDS from developing.
So there is no need to attach the “AIDS” label to housing.
When ASD opened its first three properties to house persons living with AIDS, most of the units turned over several times a year as residents passed away. Now, as people with HIV are living long, healthy lives, some graduate to independent living, and some stay and have a home for life.
More than 330 people living with HIV are housed in ASD’s five Oak Cliff properties and housing assistance programs. But that leaves another 350 people on a waiting list.
Livingston said ASD’s rental assistance program is a scattered site leasing program that makes apartments around the city affordable. And ASD is continuing to add properties to its roster to house more people.
Livingston said, with city council support, the agency may be able to purchase the old Braniff flight attendant training building on Wycliff Road at the tollway as soon as this month. ASD is also set to acquire a former nursing home on Meadow Lane at Highway 75.
“A lot is riding on the city council supporting funding,” Livingston said. “We need their full support.
Should ASD close on the Braniff building later this month, Livingston said he expects about 10 months of construction to get it ready for residents.
“It’s a historic property, and we plan to restore the architecture on the outside as well as the inside and use it for tourism and advocacy,” he said.
He’s been in touch with the director of the Frontiers of Flight museum and said he hopes to be able to decorate the building’s interiors with some historic posters and memorabilia.
Livingston added that the property will be status-neutral — some residents may have HIV, some won’t — and will target the homeless and low-income populations.
“The development is part of our strategy for ending the HIV epidemic,” he said — which brings him back to the name change.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, homelessness and housing instability are associated with increased vulnerability for acquiring HIV. Stable housing provides a foundation from which people can participate in HIV prevention services and reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
ASD is the last of Dallas’ legacy AIDS agencies to remove AIDS from its name to reflect the mission to create a world without AIDS and ensure those living with HIV get proper healthcare.
Resource Center was founded as The Foundation for Human Understanding but operated what was then known as The AIDS Resource Center and The AIDS Food Pantry. Prism Health was originally known as AIDS Arms, and AIN, created to bring religious groups together to care for people dying of AIDS, was known as AIDS Interfaith Network.
Some traditions will carry on for ASD — A Home for Life. The agency holds No Tie Dinner, its largest annual fundraiser, on May 31 at the Empire Room, 1225 N. Riverfront Blvd. Tickets are available at NoTieDinner.org.