Housing Development For LGBT Seniors Moves Forward In SF
A residential complex that will include affordable housing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender seniors is moving closer toward reality in San Francisco.
The new housing facility, a project of openhouse, will include at least 88 rental units welcoming to LGBT persons ages 55 and older who qualify for below market-rate housing. The development plan includes independent living studio and one-bedroom apartments.
The senior housing facility is part of a larger rental housing complex slated for development on the site of the former UC Berkeley Extension campus at 55 Laguna Street. The Hayes Valley site is just a block away from the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.
The project will convert three existing buildings on the property to housing for people of all ages, whether straight or gay. Most of the 330 or so units in these three buildings will be rented at market rates. The plan also includes construction of a new eight-story apartment building – where the affordable units for LGBT seniors will be located – plus a community center, retail space and a small public park.
Heading the initiative is a coalition that includes developer AF Evans, the Mayor’s Office on Housing (MOH) and openhouse, a nonprofit organization that provides a range of health and social services to LGBT seniors in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors granted final approval for the project in April 2008. It is expected that ground will be broken on the project next spring, and it is hoped that the openhouse building will open in late 2011, according to openhouse’s executive director Seth Kilbourn. Design and construction details are still being finalized, and some details – such as how much rent will be charged for the LGBT apartments – have yet to be determined.
“We see the 55 Laguna project as an important accomplishment in the city of San Francisco,” said Kilbourn. “There are an estimated 25,000 LGBT seniors who live in the city, and many are in need of affordable housing options. We’re creating a safe and vibrant environment that will allow LGBT seniors to age with dignity and respect in the city they call home.”
A base for community outreach
When the project is completed, openhouse plans to move its offices onto the site. The agency plans to include an all-inclusive care program and senior center for residents as well as for other seniors in the neighborhood who need support as they age in their homes. While construction of the 55 Laguna site is underway, openhouse is pursuing other housing projects to provide LGBT seniors of all income levels the housing options they need.
Over the next few years, openhouse also hopes to expand its reach, increase its staff and help more LGBT seniors get access to services, Kilbourn said.
The 10-year-old agency currently works with other agencies and senior centers around San Francisco on a range of programs to better serve LGBT seniors. For example, openhouse is cooperating with the city's Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) and partnering with the California Endowment to teach “LGBT best practices” to service providers. Since 2004, openhouse has trained over 1,000 providers from over 150 agencies on the unique needs of LGBT seniors. The organization is also working directly with senior centers and other agencies in San Francisco, helping them develop specific LGBT focused programs such as discussion groups and friendly visitor networks.
Tapping into a need
openhouse is one of a rising number of housing developments around the country that are geared for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors. In recent years, several LGBT senior communities have sprung up in places like New Mexico, North Carolina and Southern California.
However, most of these projects – including Barbary Lane in Oakland and Fountaingrove Lodge on Santa Rosa – are run by for-profit companies and aimed at middle- and upper-income gays and lesbians capable of paying sizable monthly rents.
When completed, openhouse will become the first affordable independent living community in Northern California to expressly welcome LGBT seniors.
The emergence of independent living communities for LGBT seniors is driven largely by demographics. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force approximates that there are more than three million LGBT Americans over the age of 65, and the number is estimated to nearly double by 2030. There are more than 250,000 queer adults living in the Bay Area, and San Francisco has the highest proportion of gay, lesbian and bisexual adults among large U.S. metro areas, according to research by the Williams Institute at UCLA.
The growth of LGBT-friendly housing projects has also been spurred by concerns among many LGBT seniors that they would be disrespected and shunned by staff and other residents at traditional retirement facilities. Even in the “gay-friendly” Bay Area, LGBT seniors frequently worry that they would have to retreat into the closet and hide their sexual identity in order to be treated with dignity in a mainstream housing community.
Moreover, many gays and lesbians share a desire to spend their retirement years and age in places where they're comfortable being themselves. Seniors tend to cluster with like-minded people, and LGBT seniors are no different, said Kilbourn.
LGBT seniors are also drawn to retirement communities where they can access services because they often don't have children or other family members for support as they age.
LGBT retirement communities in the Bay Area
Although the Bay Area has one of the country’s largest LGBT populations, the region’s retirement community developers have been slow to catch on to this niche market. Indeed, it wasn’t until Barbary Lane opened its doors in 2007 that the Bay Area had its first independent living community expressly geared for LGBT seniors.
Located in a converted six-story hotel near Lake Merritt in Oakland, Barbary Lane includes 46 studio and one-bedroom apartments for people ages 55 and older. Barbary Lane was developed by a private for-profit company and offers residents meals a day in the hotel's restaurant. Other basic services include weekly housekeeping, utilities, social activities and transportation. Monthly rents for studio to two-bedroom apartments at Barbary Lane range from about $3,300 to $4,300, with an array of amenities and services included, according to published estimates.
In Santa Rosa, a continuing care retirement community aimed at affluent gays and lesbians is being planned by for-profit Aegis Senior Living, one of the country’s largest assisted-living companies. Called Fountaingrove Lodge, it will be Aegis’ first LGBT community.
Aegis is currently accepting reservations from people interested in purchasing units, and construction is expected to begin within the next year or so, according to published reports. The upscale project will have 148 cottages, apartments and flats for independent living on 10 acre overlooking a golf course. Units will range from 900 to 2,600 square feet in size. Plans call for separate gyms for men and women, a hair salon, store, library, three restaurants, and a concierge and valet.
New residents pay entrance fees that could range from $350,000 to $1 million, depending on the type of residence, according to a 2006 article by the San Francisco Chronicle. Residents will also pay a monthly fee of about $2,700 to $4,900, which covers rent, utilities, amenities and most food.
Fountaingrove will be equipped to provide health services to residents as their needs change, either in their homes or at an on-site assisted living center. Fountaingrove will also provide Alzheimer's and dementia care to residents.
Although communities like Fountaingrove and Barbary Lane are marketed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, they do not violate nondiscrimination or equal housing laws because they are open to anyone who wishes to be in an LGBT-friendly environment. People of any sexual orientation may move in.
It should also be noted that there is a residential care facility in Daly City called Gaycare aimed at gay men. Licensed since 1999, this facility can accommodate five residents and offers meals, laundry and housekeeping services and transportation to and from doctor's appointments. Information is available at www.gaycare.com.
And in Guerneville, near the Russian River, there is also a care home for elderly and disabled gays and lesbians called Gay Family Compound. This compound of three cottages offers full-time live-in care, private redwood forests, and yards for barbecues, gardens and parties. The staff provides meals, snacks, medication monitoring, transportation, laundry, housecleaning and shopping. Information is available at www.geocities.com/ourplace116.
For information about openhouse and the openhouse senior housing initiative, see www.openhouse-sf.org. Information about Oakland’s Barbary Lane is available at www.barbarylanesenior.com, and information about Fountaingrove Lodge in Santa Rosa is available at www.fountaingrovelodge.com. Media coverage of LGBT senior housing includes a 2003 article by Time magazine, available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,460203,00.html, a 2004 Boston Globe article at http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/16/housing_demand_for_gay_seniors_climbs and a 2007 New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/us/09aged.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.
(This article originally appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Bay Area Summit)
< Back to "Lives" |
