A vision for our future: Ending the AIDS epidemic through equitable access to housing and healthcare — 

The heroes of Clare Housing – its caregivers, nurses, volunteers, donors and more – have made this organization the welcoming and healing community it is today. As Clare Housing’s executive director, over the past year I have gained a profound insight into the quality of care, compassion and bravery that is present every day in our organization.

These everyday heroes have inspired the Board of Directors to embark on a six month conversation to develop a new strategic framework for Clare Housing which will guide our work over the next several years.  The framework helps to turn the seemingly impossible into reality. It reaffirms the urgency and continued importance of our work and the critical role supportive housing plays in helping to end the HIV epidemic.

Founded in 1987, Clare Housing has created an enduring legacy of providing affordable, supportive housing and compassionate care for people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Our person-focused programs bring together strategies of harm reduction, treatment and care to enhance quality of life and reduce new infections in our community.

Over the last two decades we have grown from one residence serving four people to developing, owning, and managing seven residential programs accommodating more than 150 people. Responding to the rapidly changing complexity of the disease, we will continue to advance programs and new solutions that address the full-continuum of HIV-related housing needs in our community with the goal of ending homelessness among individuals living with HIV.

Over the next three months I will be sharing bits and pieces of the framework to give you some context of our work over the past several months and our vision for the future.  We’ll unveil the complete framework, along with our new mission statement at our annual fundraising breakfast on October 8.

You are an important part of our vision for the future – a vision that strives for an AIDS-free world built on a foundation of equitable access to housing and health care.  Please join us, if you can, at an upcoming Coffee with Chuck, a Strategic Framework Sneak Peak. I’d welcome seeing you and sharing with you our new vision, mission and stories of the wonderful people that we support together. Find dates and times, and RSVP.

We are grateful for the generosity our community has demonstrated over the last 27 years, which is essential to our mission. I look forward to working with you to ensure that the work of Clare Housing will continue until all people living with HIV have a place they can call home and we have ended this epidemic.