The house at the end of H Street in Bellingham has an unofficial greeter, and her name is Daisy. The Maltese mix was a Christmas gift in 2021: On Christmas morning that year, residents received a letter from Santa and dog tags emblazoned with Sean Humphrey House’s address.
Elizabeth Page facilitated Daisy’s adoption, noting how that Christmas was “probably my favorite holiday.” As Executive Director of Sean Humphrey House, she oversees a staff of 10 in providing safe, affordable housing and basic needs assistance to low-income individuals with HIV and AIDs.
But Daisy is one among many attributes that make Sean Humphrey House a home. The nonprofit is licensed as an Adult Care Family Home, meaning they’re limited to just six residents. Each has a studio apartment complete with a bathroom, furnishings and private entrances, connected to a communal living space.
The small size allows residents to develop personal relationships with staff: Licensed caregivers provide everything from meals to medication management, mental health care, recreational opportunities and community outings. Unfailingly, staff and volunteers ensure holidays and birthdays are special occasions.
Page believes these relationships — both within the house and in Bellingham as a whole — contribute to the model’s success. Sean Humphrey House has been a community fixture since its founding in 1995; to better meet demand, the nonprofit plans to open a second house in 2025.
“There’s an isolation that comes with living with HIV as well, and this sense of otherness,” Page said. But at Sean Humphrey House, there’s a sense of safety, stability and family.
“Everybody feels safe here. They just get to be who they are,” Page said.
History of Sean Humphrey House
Sean Humphrey House was founded by Karen and Tom Durham in honor of their son, Robert Sean Humphrey, who died of AIDS in 1992. The 501-c3 nonprofit receives some reimbursements from the Washington State Department of Social and Health; however, much of its services are made possible through community sponsorships and donations.
Page has watched firsthand as attitudes, beliefs and treatments for HIV/AIDS have shifted. She began volunteering for Sean Humphrey House 20 years ago — and while today’s community is hugely supportive, she recalls a time when “we would have to replace windows because someone had thrown a brick through this house.”
Fortunately, as public understanding of HIV evolved, so did treatment options. Page has seen Sean Humphrey House’s purpose shift from that of a hospice to a long-term care facility.
In addition to HIV/AIDS, residents are navigating additional physical or mental disabilities that make unsupported housing models difficult. Sean Humphrey House enables them to live “independently, but in community, and with the support that they need to be able to successfully stay housed,” Page continued.
There’s still no cure for HIV, but there is a solution: stopping the virus’ transmission. Medications like PrEP significantly reduce the chance of infection. For those who do contract HIV, antiretroviral therapy drugs can bring viral loads down to an undetectable level.
Housing instability and homelessness, however, are associated with increased HIV acquisition. This demographic also experiences barriers to becoming or staying virally suppressed. Without this level of support, many would be homeless.
Resident Michael Guyton, 44, was unhoused on and off for 25 years. Prior to Sean Humphrey House, he stayed at the Lighthouse Mission’s drop-in center “trying to get my life right, because I just was tired of living on the streets.” Guyton has lived at Sean Humphrey House for five years now, and has even developed a strong following on Twitch under the moniker “The Homeless Gamer.”
“I got in touch with care workers and therapists and doctors and stuff, and they introduced me to Sean Humphrey House,” Guyton said. “I just waited for my chance to get in here, living on the street. I finally got in and ever since, it’s been great.”
Day-to-day life
Then there are the pets: Daisy is the house’s “precious baby,” and several private donors support her veterinary costs. Staff also maintain a massive saltwater fish tank in the reading room. Page said it brings a sense of tranquility, but she’s also no stranger to weekend calls: “Call the aquarium guy! Johnny’s in the tube again!”
Holidays are also serious business at Sean Humphrey House. Residents organize scary movie marathons for Halloween. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, monthly resident meetings are spent discussing the most important event: holiday dinners.
“You look back through my meeting notes, and it’s all, ‘Who likes this vegetable? Who won’t eat that vegetable?’” Page said. “Are we having pork or ham or turkey?”
But despite the festivities, holidays aren’t always rosy. Temperatures drop, days shorten and inevitably, some residents begin to miss family. These moments underscore the importance of resident/caregiver relationships — and last year, residents paid it forward by drawing caregivers’ names and buying them Christmas gifts.
“They had so much fun just sitting there with our program person, scrolling through Amazon and ordering the individual presents for the caregiver that they had drawn,” Page said. “And then [the caregivers] all opened them in front of them.”
Practicing gratitude
Even outside the holidays, residents find plenty to be thankful for: Taco Tuesdays, for example, or a caregiver’s pasta salad recipe. Laundry assistance and high-speed internet. The back garden gazebo, or comfort found in the form of a fish tank.
And while AIDS-related deaths have decreased by 69% since their peak in 2004, all residents at Sean Humphrey House are well into adulthood. They remember a time when HIV was a death sentence, and stigma was at an all-time high. One resident, Nebiyu, spent years hiding his status from everyone but family. For him, Sean Humphrey House represents freedom.
“I can speak freely. That’s the key: that I have no fear,” he continued. “What is freedom? The absence of fear.”
Page stressed how none of this would be possible without community support. “People come out of the woodwork,” she said. “Sometimes when we need it the most, it will just randomly appear — and there’s no way that a small organization like this would have made it without that.”
But while Sean Humphrey House is an invaluable resource, its six-person capacity is a limitation. Page gets inquiries about rooms on a regular basis, and she knows there’s a wider need that can’t yet be met.
Luckily plans for a second house are moving quickly. When it opens, staff are looking forward to welcoming even more community members into the extended family.
“Once we have the second house open,” Page said, “if this model continues to work for all kinds of people who have multiple diagnoses, or reasons that traditional supported housing arrangements don’t work — this might be a solution for that demographic.”
Visit seanhumphreyhouse.org for donation and volunteer information, and to stay updated on updates for the second Sean Humphrey House.
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
