Clare Housing

Clare Housing’s mission is to provide a continuum of affordable and supportive housing options that create healing communities and optimize the health of people living with HIV/AIDS. Inequity in housing access and housing instability are linked with HIV: People living with HIV experience a higher probability of housing loss and instability due to the disabling and impoverishing effects of HIV. Similarly, the experience of homelessness increases the risk of HIV infection. People experiencing homelessness have HIV rates as much as 16 times higher than those who are stably housed. There is no cure for HIV, but medications if taken daily can reduce the virus to the point where it is no longer transmittable. Getting and keeping an undetectable viral load is the best way for people living with HIV to stay healthy and protect others. We opened our first community care home in 1987 for individuals needing end-of-life care resulting from HIV/AIDS. Today, we are the largest provider of HIV-specific housing in Minnesota, serving about 300 individuals each year. We house and serve people who are usually excluded from other housing options. By providing safe, low-barrier supportive housing, we have helped thousands of people living with HIV to find a sense of belonging and community and take steps towards wholeness. So many of our Clare Housing residents have told us they’ve been able to get sober, or reconnect with family, or volunteer or get a job, or start taking essential medications—because of the stability they now have. Supportive housing is also good for our entire community. Among countless other benefits, supportive housing saves money by reducing the need for expensive emergency medical care and other crisis services. Learn more by attending a virtual HIV & Homelessness 101 session.