By Dave Schwab

LGBTQ leaders are hailing the July 13 groundbreaking for the first LGBT-affirming senior housing development in North Park as a “game changer for human rights.”

“Housing can be especially challenging for LGBT seniors,” Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni G. Atkins said, referencing the 76-unit affordable apartment development that will built at 4200 Texas St. in North Park.

The history-making complex is being developed by Community HousingWorks (CHW) in partnership with the San Diego LGBT Community Center (The Center).

Open to all seniors, this new development will provide an affirming and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender seniors.

CHW CEO Sue Reynolds, who was just honored with a Spirit of Stonewall “Champion of Pride” award from the San Diego Pride organization for her efforts with the project, said the new senior housing development, with its focus on affirming LGBT residents, is “the sixth such affordable community in the country.”

Reynolds said the new complex is affirming in the sense that “all LGBTQ residents can feel completely confident they will be welcome there.”

Atkins said the new housing project addresses an immediate LGBT community housing need.

“As members of our community age, we want to be assured that we can live comfortably on a fixed, modest income, in secure housing and in a respectful environment,” Atkins said. “We want to remain connected to our community, and benefit from health care and social services that recognize our unique needs and experiences.”

Noting “we need more housing for people of all ages and backgrounds,” Atkins pointed out the complexity of financing for affordable housing projects is always an issue, as is community support.

“Fortunately, in this case, the North Park community and the adjacent El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement District were strongly supportive,” Atkins said. “Every new project is a step in the right direction. Thankfully, there soon will be 76 new homes that will continue to cater to LGBT seniors and provide a supportive environment for the next phase of their lives.”

Reynolds said the North Park Planning Committee was “extremely supportive and welcoming” about the project, as were San Diego’s political leaders including Mayor Kevin Faulconer, Councilmember Todd Gloria and California State Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins.

Though the apartments will be available to all qualifying low-income seniors, CHW worked extensively with The Center throughout the planning process to ensure the community provided a safe and welcoming environment for LGBT seniors.

“This collaboration between Community HousingWorks and the San Diego LGBT Community Center provides much-needed housing targeted towards the large population of LGBT seniors in the area and couples it with support and services,” District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria said. “Many of these folks have experienced a lifetime of rejection and prejudice. I am glad to have supported this project to provide residents a community where they can live proudly and without fear, as their authentic selves.”

A 2011 needs assessment led by The Center found many LGBT seniors suffered from fears of increasing social isolation, lack of access to culturally competent health and social services, and lack of access to safe, affordable and affirming housing options.

The $27 million North Park LGBT-affirming seniors project was financed through several mechanisms, including Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, city of San Diego tax-exempt bonds, and grant funds from the San Diego Housing Commission, as well as several other public and private sources.

Reynolds said CHW was pleased to be “a part of this trailblazing effort for the LGBTQ community.”

“We cannot let low inventory and cost be barriers to housing for San Diegans,” Gloria said. “As regional leaders, we owe it to our residents, especially those in our most vulnerable communities, to create more housing opportunities and increase the availability of affordable housing in our city.”

The roots of the new complex go back a decade to when local LGBT senior advocate William Kelly asked Dr. Delores Jacobs, CEO of The Center, if he could have some meeting space to create an ad hoc volunteer LGBT senior housing committee, consisting of local LGBT community members, to look into the matter.

“As leader/chair of that effort, Delores not only provided me the space, but she and her staff gave the committee valuable advice and guidance along the way which led to the development, funding and publishing of the Needs Assessment and Recommendations in March 2011,” Kelly said.

Jacobs noted the new gay senior housing complex is an effort to give back to the seniors whose struggles helped build the community.

“Our seniors … led us from the Stonewall riots, through the most devastating years of the AIDS crisis, to where we are today,” Jacobs said. “Yet their needs as they age have too often been overlooked. These pioneers of the LGBT community deserve our respect, our support and, when necessary, our help. Providing a welcoming, supportive and affordable place for our seniors to live is a fundamental way to show our gratitude.”

Reynolds noted that gay seniors are an at-risk population because surveys show “LGBTQ seniors are more isolated than the typical senior and are actually poorer than the typical seniors.”

Given that reality, Reynolds added the new North Park housing project “has made a [positive] change in attitude” and is a testament to all the stakeholders “who fought so hard to make it possible.”

Construction of the project is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

“This place is going to be special,” Reynolds said.

For more information on the project, visit tinyurl.com/hnmubza.

 —Dave Schwab is a local freelance writer. He can be reached at [email protected].