Clare Housing helps house vulnerable community members

Beginning in fall of 2023, Clare Housing has been helping people living with HIV and experiencing homelessness move off the streets quickly, thanks to new, more flexible funding from Hennepin County. Numerous clients have successfully moved into hotels temporarily, followed quickly by a move into permanent supportive housing.
Clare Housing’s Intake Coordinator Amber Poppe has spearheaded the Hotels to Housing program with the help of collaborative partners at the Indigenous People’s Task Force, Hennepin County’s Healthcare for the Homeless team, and the Aliveness Project. Clare Housing’s Executive Director Phoebe Trepp stressed the community value of continuing this program. “We’re meeting some of the most marginalized people experiencing homelessness right where they are and simply working with them to get immediate housing,” she said.
The Hotel to Housing program offers safety, cleanliness, privacy, and autonomy, and is available immediately, which doesn’t require lengthy paperwork or screening processes. Although Clare Housing is paying for the hotel rooms through grant funding, they are checked out in the clients’ names and are their responsibility. “Giving them ownership is really cool to see. To be able to offer something that’s truly for you,” Poppe said.
B., the first person Poppe moved to a hotel, had experienced homelessness throughout his life. When they first met to do an intake, he was reserved and quiet, showing very little emotion. But as soon as Poppe took him to check into the hotel, he began to light up, and over time she saw a complete 360 degree turn in his personality.
Poppe stressed the importance of building trust because clients “are in a very vulnerable place, and they’re sharing their vulnerabilities and barriers with you.”
Poppe also described working with G., someone she had seen move around the community from one encampment to another before she linked up with Clare Housing. G. moved into her hotel room with the intention of reducing her drug use, something that often happens naturally because substances are less accessible than on the streets. Poppe asked G. what kind of things she enjoyed spending her time on in the past when she was housed. G. loved crafting, in particular crotchet and coloring, so Poppe helped her pick up some supplies while they were buying groceries. Within weeks of moving into her hotel room G. had reduced her drug use and was getting up early on her own to run errands.
Poppe has now helped 14 adults living with HIV move into hotels and transition into a permanent supportive housing placement. Working in this low-barrier framework has allowed the transition into housing to happen more quickly, and in a more individually tailored way versus navigating the County Coordinated Entry system. This program has allowed Clare Housing to work directly with people in need without requiring multiple hand-offs between assessors, coordinated entry, and housing staff.