LGBTQ older adults deserve safe and affirming housing

This article originally appeared in Nature Aging. 

LGBTQ older adults have historically lacked safe, affordable or community- affirming housing opportunities.

At least in the USA, the current generation of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning) adults aged 62+ have experienced a unique set of challenges. This generation grew up before a single law protected them from discrimination or allowed them to marry, and while leading healthcare groups such as the American Psychiatric Association defined homosexuality as a ‘sociopathic personality disturbance’. This generation survived the AIDS epidemic, in which many lost partners and close friends while facing public scrutiny, estrangement from family or loss of work — all because of their sexuality or gender identity. As a result of these challenges, this generation of LGBTQ older adults may have little to no financial security and carry trauma from many years of discrimination. LGBTQ individuals have often lived on the margins, constantly fearing rejection and feeling the need to build defenses to protect themselves — sometimes even retreating into the closet.

As an architect whose work focuses on designing communities for older adults, the need for supportive housing for the LGBTQ older community has been on my mind for many years. I wanted to put my work to the service of my community, which led me 15 years ago to start discussions with LGBTQ organizations and leaders in the Boston area about the need for LGBTQ-affirming housing. Housing communities for LGBTQ older adults are hard to advocate for, finance and develop, because there are very little data available on LGBTQ aging. LGBTQ older adults are not a protected class in many states or at the federal level, and therefore are not always accounted for in the general census. Housing developers find it too complex to overcome the limited public aware- ness around LGBTQ aging, which is essential to developing such communities. Since the development of the first housing project for LGBTQ older adults (Triangle Square in Los Angeles in 2007), there have only been a small handful of similar developments in the USA that offer housing for LGBTQ older adults, all of which have been the outcome of years of hard work.

With the support of Pennrose (a national housing developer) and LGBTQ Senior Housing (a nascent not-for-profit organization founded in 2018 on the principles of providing safe and affirming housing for LGBTQ older adults), we developed The Pryde, New England’s first LGBTQ-affirming, affordable senior housing, which is located in Boston’s Hyde Park neighbor- hood. We wanted to ensure that the community we were building responded to the need of the LGBTQ older adults and future residents. Our team, board members and development partners engaged the local community of Hyde Park from the outset, and consistently expressed our vision that The Pryde be an asset to Hyde Park. This outreach has informed many parts of the building’s design, including an office suite for Hyde Park’s 54th Regiment (a historic organization that was looking for a permanent home). In addition, the building includes 10,000 square feet dedicated to com- munity use, including a library, art gallery and multiuse space for large events such as performances from the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus or the yearly Pride celebrations. LGBTQ people never chose to live secluded or separate from society, so the Pryde is their community and is fully integrated in the neighborhood.

Throughout this journey I discovered that no matter one’s financial assets, living in a community is an aspiration for many in the LGBTQ community, many of whom suffered from housing discrimination. In traditional senior communities, many LGBTQ older adults can be forced back into the closet or experience harassment, with no meaningful programs to support them in traditional housing. The Pryde was designed to allow residents to remain independent as much as possible and set a updates goal for all kitchens and bathrooms to be fully accessible and to allow people to age in their community even as their physical condition requires the use of mobility devices. Furthermore, principles of dementia-friendly design are incorporated in the community interior design; these include contrasting colors for the apartment doors and color-coded furniture per floor, which helps with wayfinding, and a landscaped courtyard with a walking loop and resting stations. The development team also included nine two-bedroom units (an unusually large number for senior housing), understanding that LGBTQ older adults may have been living with their chosen family as roommates.

Rising housing prices in major cities have particularly affected LGBTQ older adults and have forced many to move to more affordable communities where they are forced to be clos- eted and alone. Even though The Pryde offers 74 units of affordable housing, this is a process that took 15 years to achieve, and the units are all allocated through Massachusetts’ housing lottery. This means that only a fortunate few will receive housing, given that at the time The Pryde opened on June28, 2024, there were more than 600 applicants on the waiting list — some of whom will be disqualified because they earn too much or too little.

Several residents have moved in and it is heartwarming to listen to people’s stories at the Friday mixers held in the building. In the words of Rob Quinn, who lost his mom and had been living isolated for 4 years, “On moving day, I met more people on that one day than I had in the past 10 years living in a large apartment building. People here are just amazing, and I am just grateful. Living here is freeing, now I can just be me.” As the first LGBTQ-affirming income-restricted senior housing in New England, The Pryde is a lifeline for LGBTQ older adults.