About Us
Our Mission
To serve impoverished Mississippians living with, affected by, or at higher risk of HIV/AIDS by providing and maintaining housing where clients may live with dignity, safety, and care; delivering all the support necessary to improve health and financial situation and reducing stigma through education.
Our History
Grace House was incorporated in 1994 but began housing people living with and dying from HIV and AIDS before incorporation. Grace House was started due to the number of displaced people, often due to stigma related to HIV, AIDS, or sexual or gender orientation or identity. In the early ’90s, Grace House operated as a home and, sometimes, a hospice care facility for people living and dying. What began as one two-story house in mid-town Jackson, Mississippi, has now grown into an organization that provides housing and supportive services to approximately 650 men, women, and children each night.
Members of St. Andrews Church in Jackson recognized a need for housing and services for HIV-positive people in the early 90s. An extensive search would lead to acquiring property in mid-town that has become a home to countless men and women in the past thirty + years. Grace House was fortunate enough to have an adjacent home donated where our services could be offered to additional people. Then, in 2009, two additional properties were purchased, and these four homes now make up our main campus.
Funding received from HUD and a host of other local churches, foundations, businesses, and individuals have allowed Grace House to operate these programs and our rental assistance programs since 2009. In 2014, a local HUD-funded organization that assisted chemically dependent homeless women in the Belhaven area closed. Grace House took over the project and now offers 30 beds to homeless women with chemical dependency issues. In 2016, Grace House sought to meet better the housing needs of people living with HIV in our communities and gained additional funding through the City of Jackson and Mississippi Home Corporation. In 2019, Grace House was asked to assist persons whose housing stability was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2023, we began our CHOICE housing project, which assists persons living with a serious mental illness. Grace House now provides emergency and rental assisted housing to people who are homeless or in danger of homelessness to protect their health and safety with a holistic level of care.