When the coronavirus pandemic descended on New York last month, Charles King had a flashback to the AIDS epidemic some 30 years ago, spurring him into action to help the homeless who have tested positive for COVID-19.

King, who co-founded the Housing Works non-profit with three other AIDS activists in 1990, worried that homeless New Yorkers stricken with the coronavirus faced a double stigma: they could spread the virus if they lived on the streets and would not be welcome at city shelters.

“They are the new outcasts,” said King, 65. “This resonated deeply with me because back in the 1980s you had AIDS organizations that were not dealing with the homeless and homeless shelters that were not taking anyone with AIDS.”

Housing Works, which operates a series of high-end thrift stores to partly fund their work with people living with HIV, approached the city’s Department of Social Services offering to manage two COVID-19 shelters in city hotels.

Homeless patients discharged from hospitals began being referred to the first Housing Works shelter, which opened April 3 and has 150 beds, King told The Post. The second shelter, which will house 100 people, is slated to open next week, he said.

Unable to rely on the city’s stockpile of protective gear and medical supplies, King turned to his community connections to find face masks, gloves and other supplies. Rhonda Roland Shearer, an artist and former Housing Works board member who had secured supplies for 9/11 first responders, donated hundreds of surgical masks, hand sanitizer and disposable hospital gowns. “She stepped into the breach and found us impossible-to-find supplies through her 9/11 connections,” King said.

A spokesman for DSS would not disclose where the Housing Works shelters are located, citing safety and privacy concerns. As of April 8, the city’s Department of Homeless Services confirmed 269 positive cases of COVID-19 and 14 virus-related deaths since last month.