For Kendall, finding a home at Clare Housing meant more than securing an apartment. After experiencing homelessness and couch surfing, it meant finally closing the door to a place of his own.
“When I was able to lock the door, I was just like, ‘I’m going to hold on to this,’” said Kendall, a Clare Housing resident and member of the organization’s Resident Advisory Council. “I’m not going to let anything jeopardize it.”
Kendall’s story was one of many shared July 30 as Clare Housing celebrated nearly 40 years of providing supportive housing for Minnesotans living with HIV and unveiled a $7 million renovation of Clare Northeast Apartments, the nonprofit’s flagship building in northeast Minneapolis.
The renovation modernized all 32 apartments and updated common spaces while preserving one of the state’s longest-standing supportive housing communities for people living with HIV. The celebration included a resident-led town hall, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the renovated building.
Housing as Prevention
Founded during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, Clare Housing has evolved alongside advances in HIV treatment. What began as volunteer-run care homes for people with AIDS has grown into a nonprofit that serves about 500 residents annually through four supportive housing properties, adult foster care homes, scattered-site housing and housing assistance programs…