OUTING AGE 2010
HOUSING: LGBT-Targeted Elder Housing Since the mid-1990s, a handful of LGBT-targeted retirement communities have opened in the United States. Starting in 1997 with Palms of Manasota in South Florida, an initial group of for-profit projects offered lots for sale on which buyers could construct their own homes; purchase of the lot and payment of a monthly fee provided membership in a homeowners association offering access to shared facilities such as a community clubhouse and landscaped open spaces.254 Individual developments of this sort subsequently opened in New Mexico and North Carolina, as did a manufactured-housing “resort and retirement community” for lesbian women in South Florida. During the same period, for-profit and nonprofit developers launched initiatives to build full-scale retirement communities tailored to the needs of LGBT older adults. These projects were planned as amenity-rich communities offering a village-style mix of housing or a large multi-unit building, ready for purchase or rental. In addition, three for-profit projects that involved rehabilitating former hotels to serve as multi-unit LGBT elder housing made it to the point of briefly opening for business: Barbary Lane Senior Communities in Oakland, CA; Calamus Communities in Phoenix, AZ; and The Racquet Club in Palm Springs, CA. Each closed within months for reasons that were not publicly announced. Although studies show that a for-profit market exists for LGBT elder housing, the challenges of finding investors and financing, purchasing suitable land, and obtaining permits and licenses have proved insurmountable for the two or three dozen such projects that were announced but never went beyond the predevelopment stage.255 Similarly, although needs assessments show a strong community interest, only one nonprofit to date has succeeded in putting together the public funding and private donations and solving the logistical issues involved in opening affordable housing for LGBT older adults.256
254 Visit the Palms of Manasota website at www.palmsofmanasota.com. Visit the RainbowVision website at www.rainbowvisionprop.com. 255 For an example of market research, see Dwight, M. (2004). “Searching for the Sample: Researching Demand for Senior Housing in the LGBT Community.” OutWord 11(2), pp.2,8. 256 On needs assessments, see DeVries. (2004).
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