As much as we may not want to face up to it ……. and so many of us gay men are in total denial (!) …. it’s probably a good time to discuss our needs facing old age. It is, after all, in many senses, a luxury that so many in our community were robbed of when the AIDS pandemic took so many of them so very prematurely. Old Age for LGBTQ+ people was something we hadn’t experienced or even conisdered, but now that is something that we all need to address
Aging gay communities are a growing demographic facing unique challenges, that frankly, the vast majority of older gay men never thought they would ever have to deal with. There is now at last a growing demographic facing unique challenges, leading to the rise of specialized, affirming housing. There is a need to provide culturally competent care, social connection, and safety, countering decades of discrimination and invisibility within mainstream systems. After all there are so many LGBTQ+ elders who often lack family support or fear mistreatment in traditional settings.
A fine example of this is San Francisco which, according to research, nearly one-third of the city will be people 60 and older by 2030. And a large percentage of the population will be queer. and often often they experience higher rates of isolation, discrimination in healthcare, and lack of family support, making them vulnerable.
Its therefore good to know that City officials have started making plans. They have just announced that an empty lot on Market Street will be transformed into a 15-story residential building for seniors in San Francisco. “As folks age, incomes become restricted, the cost of living rises and so the need for affordable housing becomes even greater,” explained Dani Soto, Deputy Director of Openhouse, a nonprofit serving LGBTQ+ seniors.
Mercy Housing will develop the property offering 187 studios and one-bedroom apartments with funding coming from the state and the city–all affordable housing. Because San Francisco looks after its LGBTQ+ people, the building will be marketed primarily to that community and to some veterans. For seniors age 62 plus, and the income will be restricted for very low income to extremely low income, so that means that folks can be making approximately $16,000 up to $92,000 a year,” outlined Sean Wils, Senior Project Manager of Mercy Housing.
The building is located here at the corner of Duboce and Market and obviously, one of the reasons for this location is that it is located near a lot of the other LGBTQ facilities, including the other one run by Openhouse, who are the service providers here just up Laguna Street
