Featured Panelist: Brian Bassinger

Since founding the AIDS Housing Alliance/SF in 2004, Brian Basinger has become a leading voice for the needs of the LGBTQ and HIV communities facing poverty and homelessness. Under his leadership, AHA/SF has directly prevented eviction or rapidly rehoused over 2700 households,  with emergency financial assistance to prevent eviction or secure new housing, affordable housing applications, direct housing placements, tenants rights counseling and landlord mediation

His public policy advocacy has led to positive impacts for thousands more San Franciscans. Achievements include: instigating the first ever LGBTQ Connect,  passing the No Fast Pass to Eviction legislation to protect people with HIV/AIDS, seniors and other disabled households from speculative real estate evictions, working closely with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pass legislation granting domestic partners the legal right to live together in rental housing and led the efforts to secure funding to make the first LGBT senior housing in San Francisco 100% affordable.  He was invited by the White House to help lead efforts to include housing as a major focus of the first ever National AIDS Strategy, and just returned from the first ever national strategy session in Washington DC to include poverty issues in the national LGBTQ movement.

He recently passed legislation with Supervisor David Campos to expand sexual orientation and gender identity protections in housing nationally and is currently championing the effort to pass Prop G – the anti-speculation tax this November. While organizing the annual Harvey Milk & George Moscone Candlelight Vigil and March On City Hall last Fall, he conceived of this measure while viewing old interviews of Harvey Milk discussing his original proposal for an anti-speculator tax 36 years ago.