Iowa: Group Home for AIDS Victims Closes

Clare House, a volunteer-run group home for people with HIV/AIDS in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, closed earlier this month after operating for seven years. Clare House Chair Jan Alderton said the problems the home faced were too big to handle. Jim Foxwell, Clare House director and its only full-time employee, resigned in March. Security was also a major concern. "When I first went in there, I really needed it and it was of real assistance to me," said Roy Timbrook, who moved last month after living three years at Clare House. "But it got difficult to live there because of the lack of supervision." The house had room for six residents but averaged two a month for the past year, Alderton said. It cost about $4,000 a month to operate the house. "Dollar-wise, we're not making sense," she said. "Families are no longer dumping, ostracizing members with HIV and AIDS, and with better treatments they are able to live quite well independently," she said.

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