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McLaren Housing Society

McLaren Housing provides desperately needed comforts of home

Home sweet home has special meaning to the folks at the McLaren Housing Society. Since 1987, McLaren has provided subsidized housing for people who are HIV-positive and/or living with AIDS. Funding from the Shooting Stars Foundation has contributed significantly to this accomplishment, according to Executive Director JoAnne Fahr. “The Shooting Stars funding is one of our only reliable, ongoing non-government sources. This provides stability for one individual per year because it sustains the rent supplement we provide to keep him or her adequately housed.”

McLaren operates three downtown Vancouver housing facilities with subsidized rental units: 32 bachelor suites and one-bedroom apartments at Helmcken House, a renovated heritage building located in downtown Vancouver South; 20 studio apartments in Seymour Place, a public housing project funded by both the provincial and municipal governments; and 10 units in the Mole Hill Community Housing Society, which offers an alternative to apartment-based living.

For those who wish to remain in their own apartments, McLaren provides an additional 32 subsidies that average $5,500 in value. This allows for flexibility in meeting client needs and providing the comforts of home. “McLaren’s typical client has been living with an HIV diagnosis for some years and is often facing financial hardship because of being unable to continue working,” says Fahr. “This eventually forces them to give up their accommodation and can lead to living in single-room occupancy hotels. Not having the privacy of your own bathroom or kitchen facilities in which to cook nutritious meals are detrimental side effects on top of the often debilitating effects of HIV/AIDS.”

Despite its 94 subsidies, McLaren maintains a waiting list of more than 238 people, “all of who qualify for and desperately require housing support,” says Fahr. “The number of people in urgent need of housing assistance as they cope with their disease continues to grow rapidly.”

McLaren is supported by a number of sponsors and granting agencies, but is hoping to attract more funders to help meet the increasing demand for housing subsidies.

“We just keep plugging away with grant applications, third-party initiatives, and other fundraising ideas that come our way,” says Fahr, adding that the contribution of the Shooting Stars Foundation has been critical to the organization’s continued ability to help people in need of safe, affordable housing.