INTERNATIONAL
Tonic is part of a global movement to create retirement communities for older LGBT+ people and we learn from similar projects around the world. Below is information about schemes which are currently open or are due to open. If you know of communities not listed or have updates on any below please contact us.
USA
Go to this SAGE USA page to find out more about LGBTQ+ housing rights and resources where you live.
Triangle Square, Los Angeles California
Stonewall Gardens Assisted Living, Palm Springs, California
Living Out, Palm Springs, California
North Park Seniors, San Diego, California
55 Laguna, San Francisco, California
Fountaingrove Lodge, Santa Rosa, California
The Connie House, Palm Beach County, Florida
The Resort on Carefree Boulevard, Fort Myers, Florida
The Palms of Manasota, Palmetto, Florida
Secret Garden, Wilton Manors, Florida
Birds of a Feather, Pecos, New Mexico
Rainbow Vision, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Crotona Pride House, Bronx, New York
Stonewall House, Brooklyn, New York
Bay Shore Senior Residences, Long Island, New York
Carefree Cove, Boone, North Carolina
Village Hearth, Durham, North Carolina
A Place for Us, Cleveland, Ohio
Rainbow Vista, Gresham, Oregon
John C. Anderson Apartments, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Seashore Point, Provincetown, Massachusetts
Townhall Apartments, Chicago, Illinois
Mary’s House for Older Adults, Washington DC
The Residences at Equality Park, Wilton Manors, Florida
The Pryde, Boston, Massachusetts
EUROPE
Lebensort Vielfalt, Berlin, Germany
Villa Anders, Cologne, Germany
LA Rieshous, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fundacion 26 de Diciembre Josete Massa Residence, Madrid, Spain (see video)
Rainbow Apartments, Málaga, Spain
Lesbian and queer housing plans, Mette, Germany
Regnbågen, Stockholm, Sweden
Maison de la Diversité, Lyon, France
Que[e]rbau-Town House, Vienna, Austria
Slottet, Copenhagen, Denmark
UK
Tonic@Bankhouse, Vauxhall, London
New Larchwood, Brighton
Manchester City Council, LGBT Foundation and Stonewall Housing are working together to develop an LGBT majority extra care scheme with the consultancy support of Tonic (see video).
SPOTLIGHT: 55 LAGUNA, SAN FRANCISCO
In March 2017 San Francisco officially celebrated the opening of 55 Laguna, the city’s first affordable, LGBT-welcoming housing for residents over 55. The idea for the project was born nearly 20 years ago, in 1998, as Rainbow Adult Community Housing.
55 Laguna was developed through a strong partnership between Openhouse (formerly Rainbow Adult Community Housing) and Mercy Housing who acts as the developer and property manager. Openhouse’s mission is to provide services to San Francisco Bay Area LGBT seniors as they age such as housing, direct services and community programs. They have been successful in reducing isolation and providing LGBT seniors with tools to improve their overall health, well-being and economic security. Mercy Housing California specializes in affordable low-income housing programs and has developed 128 rental properties across 36 California counties serving low- and very-low-income working poor families, seniors and individuals.
The scheme is made up of 40 units which include 10 studios, 26 one-bedroom and 4 two-bedroom accommodations. Allocation for these units was decided by a lottery in which there appear to have been over 1,800 entrants for the 40 units. Although it has been open for less than a year, they have already embarked on a expanding to a “new and much larger building at 95 Laguna slated to break ground this fall, will provide a total of 119 affordable senior apartments and a community center with almost 8000 square feet of activity space. Together, this hub of LGBT-welcoming housing and services will be the largest LGBT affordable senior housing project in the [USA].” It is also home to the Bob Ross LGBT Senior Center at 65 Laguna.
Sixty-seven percent of the residents are LGBT identified, six percent are transgender and fifty-seven percent are people of color. “This place is a gift,” resident Robin Rheult, a transwoman, recently told the scheme’s co-founder Marcy Adelman. “To be able to wake up and feel safe and know you have a community that supports you … know I have a safe place to live that I can afford for the rest of my life … To walk out my apartment door and know I have likeminded people around me is a comfort.”
