It’s Time for Living, Not Just Survival — September 29, 2014
Finding a home when you are homeless can be a challenge in itself.
Add to that an HIV/AIDS diagnosis, chemical addiction or mental health issues, or a criminal background and it becomes even more difficult to secure a place to call home.
Many of Clare Housing’s residents and those on our waiting list face a combination of these challenges.
They are all living with HIV, and also may:
- Come from families that have experienced generations of poverty
- Face social isolation, depression, mental health issues and challenging relationships
- Have co-occurring health care problems such as diabetes
As you learn about the complicated network of interrelated challenges that many of these men and women face, you begin to understand why they find themselves homeless, why they find themselves going to the emergency room rather than the doctor’s office, and why the work that we do here at Clare Housing is so badly needed.
Something is wrong in our society when we allow this to continue to happen. It’s time to make the investments needed to provide people living with HIV the basic necessities of a stable home and access to the medical care and social services they need in order to focus on living rather than survival.
Clare Housing’s new strategic framework grounds its work squarely in the social injustices found in our community – the inequities of generational poverty, racism, homelessness and access to healthcare – along with the disabling impact living with HIV can have on a person’s well-being.
Our new mission, to provide a continuum of affordable and supportive housing options that create healing communities and optimize the health of people living with HIV/AIDS, will be achieved when we end homelessness among people living with HIV.
Our new strategic framework reaffirms – first and foremost – the urgency and importance of our mission and the critical role Clare Housing plays in helping to end the HIV epidemic. Our work in the coming years will focus in three primary areas:
- Providing a continuum of affordable housing options for low income and unstably housed people living with HIV/AIDS in Minnesota
- Ensuring people living with HIV have access to the medical and supportive care they need to manage the day to day impacts of living with HIV/AIDS
- Preventing the spread of HIV through stable housing, retention in care and adhering to treatment plans.
We started this work 27 years ago when a man named Brother Louis bought a house in south Minneapolis, recruited volunteers and opened its doors to provide shelter to dying young men. In 1992 we served just eight people and today we are the largest provider of HIV-specific housing in the state, housing 150 people in 116 units of affordable and supportive homes — homes that are designed to be a place of healing for both body and spirit. Today, Clare Housing remains a place where life can be lived. A place where people can receive the support and care they need to live their lives fully and with dignity.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Your continued support ensures that Clare Housing will be able to achieve its goal of ending homelessness for people living with HIV/AIDS in Minnesota.