Mayor lobbies for HIV/AIDS rent-relief veto

Mayor Bloomberg’s office is lobbying against a bill that would provide more rent relief to 11,000 low-income New York City residents with HIV or AIDS because it is too costly. The bill, which was passed by the State Senate on Tuesday and by the Assembly in January, is expected to make its way to Governor David Paterson’s desk in the next few days, and Bloomberg is asking him to veto it, saying it would mean adding 10 percent in city funding to a program that already costs $150 million annually. Many people served by the city’s H.I.V./AIDS Services Administration currently spend more than half of their income on rent; the bill would allow them to spent no more than 30 percent. [NYT]