Clare Housing Turns 30! — January 3, 2017

We look forward to celebrating with you at events and online throughout the year!

In 2017, Clare Housing celebrates three decades of creating home, health and hope for people living with HIV in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro with “30 Stories and 30 Gifts”. Our supporters and friends can expect to commemorate and celebrate with us throughout the year online and in-person at various events!

Today Clare Housing provides more homes for people living with HIV in Minnesota than anyone else, but it wasn’t always this way. When founded in 1987, things looked very different.

• In the past 30 years, HIV has changed dramatically. So has our response. At one time HIV was a death sentence. Now with medication it’s a manageable chronic illness. We’ve transformed to meet that reality.Once a place where people received end-of-life care, now people come to Clare Housing to live. At our apartments and Care Homes around 200 people affected by HIV are finding home, health and hope. As one resident says, “Clare Housing gave me back my future.”
• Clare Housing’s model could end homelessness for every Minnesotan living with HIV, and save money while doing it. Studies show around 50% of people living with the virus will be threatened with homelessness in their lifetimes. Research has also found that when you’re unstably housed, health takes a back seat – until it’s too late. The inevitable result: too many expensive trips to the hospital Emergency Room. Clare Housing provides an affordable and ethical alternative.We offer supportive housing with connections to healthcare to Minnesotans living with HIV.Clare Housing’s proactive care prevents costly hospital visits, saving tax-payers a half million dollars a year! Our clients take control of their HIV at an astonishing rate.An average of around 90% have undetectable amounts of HIV in their blood, compare that to only 53% in the state of Minnesota, and 30% across the U.S. Building supportive housing for people living with HIV is the right thing to do. It’s also the smart thing to do.
• We can’t wait another 30 years to end new HIV infections, AND WE DON’T HAVE TO. We have the tools we need today to end the transmission of HIV. Supportive housing is so effective in helping people take control of their HIV, it can provide the foundation for creating a world free of new HIV infections. People with undetectable amounts of HIV are drastically less likely to pass the virus on to others. Housing is a powerful tool in our tool box to ending this epidemic.
• Need is growing, but so is our response. In 2016, Clare Housing saw its waiting list for supportive housing double to 300 people. Fortunately thanks to community support, we will open another 36 apartments at our newest development, Marshall Flats, in fall 2017. In time, Clare Housing hopes to create a Minnesota where everyone living with HIV has a place to call home.

We look forward to commemorating and celebrating 30 years of home, health and hope with you through out the year. If you’re a Journey Home Circle Member, expect to see an invitation to our kick-off event in March soon.