New home for New York City LGBTI seniors
NEW YORK: Next month, work will begin on a $78 million housing complex for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Followed in the fall by a $40 million building across from Crotona Park in the Bronx. Both buildings are expected to open in 2019. While such targeted affordable housing is new to New York City, it has been built in a handful of other cities, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, amid a growing recognition that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are more likely to need help as they grow older because many of them are single, have no children and may be estranged from their families. More than 100,000 of New York City’s 1.1 million residents 65 years and older are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, according to SAGE, a nonprofit advocacy and service organization. These elders can find themselves isolated in traditional retirement communities or nursing homes, and in some cases, may even feel compelled to go back into the closet just to fit in.