Calcutta House exists to serve the most fragile people with AIDS and to support the self-empowerment of each person to live as fully as their situation permits.

We provide supportive housing with services responsive to the individual: those who are dying, those who are able to rebuild their lives and move on to independence, and those who will continue to require the assistance of supportive housing.

We work with each person to progress towards his/her potential and to achieve attainable and realistic goals.

Board Approved: March 2003

   Calcutta House moved to a new facility, now known as Independence
       Place, located at 1601 West Girard Avenue n North Philadelphia.

      Our new second house, Serenity Court, now opened in June 2004
                    at 1221 N. 19th Street in North Philadelphia.

Concurrent with our expansion and initiation of programs to more effectively transition many residents to the community, improving AIDS treatments led to diverging needs of our residents. As HIV disease began to affect new, significantly poorer individuals, many with a history of homelessness and often with significant substance abuse and mental health issues, it became apparent some were able to recover much of their functional ability in our care, while others who had been diagnosed and referred to Calcutta House long after their initial infection we’re not. These more acute residents were often unable to benefit from the new drug regimens and needed the type of nursing and hospice care originally provided by Calcutta House. To meet this new challenge, while specifically seeking not to co-mingle transitional residents with those whose prognosis was limited, the Board moved to create a new facility, to be named Serenity Court , to address the special needs of people in the end stages of AIDS. Following an ambitious capital campaign championed by our Executive Director and Board of Directors, Serenity Court opened it doors to it is first residents in May 2004. 

As we are currently constituted, the two separate but mutually supporting facilities reflect the complex and differing needs of people who suffer from a life-threatening disease. Calcutta House will continue to adapt in whatever way is necessary to meet the needs of our society’s most vulnerable people suffering from AIDS and, in so doing, fulfill our mission.

From 1987 through June 2007, we have provided housing and cared for 368 men and women with AIDS.

History
In 1987, Calcutta House was founded in a rented five bedroom row house in the University City area of West Philadelphia and was dedicated to providing a clean, comfortable, accepting and supportive place for those often ostracized individuals with end-stage AIDS to spend their final months in peace and comfort.  At the time, no effective AIDS treatments were available, and typically, AIDS led to death within a year of diagnosis. In its early days, resources were very scarce for helping those with the little understood disease, and Calcutta House operated with a very small staff often struggling to meet its residents’ needs.   Yet even in these early days, despite the lack of resources and many obstacles encountered, owing to the commitment and vision of its staff and volunteers Calcutta House nonetheless met its mission to assist those with AIDS and to help them live with respect and die in peace, comfort and with dignity.

This early steadfast dedication to our mission and residents was and remains the hallmark of Calcutta House.

Over time, increasing need for hospice type services, the appearance of limited government support and growing public awareness of the epidemic led the Board of Directors to start an ambitious fundraising campaign to build a new, larger better suited to the care of those with AIDS and equipped to provide skilled care.  This 12-bed facility, specifically designed for the acutely ill population it served, opened in 1996 and included four adjacent, but separate, apartments for people who were beginning to respond to new drug therapies, and were able to live independently without direct care. In 1999, again in the spirit of better serving those with acute AIDS diagnoses, Calcutta House expanded into an adjoining property, adding 6 more beds, creating a total of 18 private bedrooms, as well as space for nursing stations and behavioral and rehabilitative care. As residents began to respond effectively to treatment and a significant portion of our residents remained at Calcutta House longer, progressing towards living on their own in the community, this facility was named Independence Place, a part of the Calcutta House non-profit organization.