Autumn update from CEO Anna Kear (from Washington DC)
Hello from across the pond!
I wanted to take the opportunity before flying back home to share with you some of the great insight and friendship generously shared by LGBT+ elders housing organisations in the USA.
My trip over here was hosted by SAGE USA as a delegate to speak at the Inaugural National LGBT Elder Housing Symposium in Washington DC kindly sponsored by citi community development. The Symposium was an amazing day and a unique opportunity to meet the folks who run the numerous LGBT+ elders housing schemes and social centres across the USA and territories. From Chicago to San Francisco, Los Angeles to Minneapolis, San Diego to Washington DC and Puerto Rico. These projects show what can and has been achieved to create great places that support and celebrate older LGBT+ people. This quote from Maya Angelou, read by one speaker, confirmed our common purpose: ‘The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.’
A strong theme throughout the day was the importance and benefits of community-led approaches and lived experience in both the planning and running of schemes - ‘with and by LGBT+ people’. I was able to share details of our work to create the first LGBT+ affirming housing for older people in the UK, including the input of our Community Panel, which received much support and encouragement! In essence, we have the same issues and are trying to achieve the same goals, we just have different legislation and funding frameworks that we have to work with to achieve these. Below is a summary of the key learning points.
Barbara + Sheila 4 ever!
Meeting SAGE community members in the Bronx
● The housing schemes are often built either above or next door to the LGBT+ social centre. The social centres are funded by the federal government - they were quite shocked that we do not have such provision in the UK.
● The term LGBT+ affirming is used to describe most schemes. None of the housing schemes are LGBT+ exclusive as that would be in breach of the Fair Housing legislation, so schemes have both LGBT+ residents and non LGBT+ residents. What is important is that there is a community contract that residents sign up to based on respect and understanding which creates the safe spaces that everyone cherishes.
At Ingersoll Senior Residences (with Sydney Kopp-Richardson in the black helmet!)
● The service provider is usually the LGBT+ organisation while the property owner and manager is often a not for profit partner organisation. There is no care provision but a clinician is often employed as part of the wellbeing programme.
● There is a primary focus on affordability with most of the schemes offering affordable rent.
● The schemes have been built by developers through utilisation of the US tax credit system, often facilitated by the National Equity Fund. There are therefore strict rules on occupancy often with a 30% allocation requirement for formerly homeless people.
● Most schemes have taken around 10 years to develop, and they are all relatively new. Some land has been provided at a peppercorn (or nominal cost) by cities, others were purchased when/where land was cheaper.
● The demand for the schemes has been huge with thousands of applications often submitted in windows as short as 7 days.
● Marketing is given much emphasis with advertising and outreach workers employed to run workshops and events to ensure that more isolated LGBT+ older people are aware of the opportunity of a new scheme and are given help to complete the application process if required.
● Art produced by residents and community members decorates the walls and gives real identity and pride to the common spaces.
● Food is a big feature of the schemes as part of the wellbeing programmes funded by New York’s Department for the Aging - it is a really social affair!
● Many schemes embrace intergenerational involvement, some through corporate sponsorship and volunteering by LGBT+ employee groups.
● The largest scheme in the world, comprising 145 apartments, is the soon-to-be-completed Ingersoll Senior Residences in Brooklyn, NYC which I was very lucky to visit.
In the days before the Symposium I visited the SAGE centres in Manhattan and the Bronx, meeting some wonderful people and seeing the beautiful art they had created. Halloween parties were in full preparation!
I am hugely grateful to Sydney Kopp-Richardson, Director of SAGE's National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative, for the opportunity to attend and participate in the event and visit the schemes as well as make such a great professional connection and friend.
On a final note, I am sad to advise that Luke Warner will be leaving Tonic at the end of October after over two years of dedicated service. I am of course also very happy for him to have been appointed to work for AKT and wish him all the best and huge thanks for all his work for us. I am sure we will keep in touch! We will be reviewing our future staffing requirements over the next couple of months as we hope to be announcing some exciting news. In the meantime we have some temporary support in place.
I look forward to sharing more news with you soon,
Anna
P.S. Please register your interest if you feel that Tonic might be of interest to you.