New Developments

Despite funding cut, housing development for LGBTQ+ seniors will go forward

The project is converting a former Hyde Park school into 74 units.

LGBTQ+ housing protest
Rallygoers who gathered to support the LGBTQ+-friendly housing project The Pryde in Hyde Park Sunday covered hateful spray-painted vandalism with their signs of love. Gretchen Van Ness

By Cameron Sperance

3 minutes to read

Stripped funding doesn’t mean the end of what is slated to be one of New England’s first senior housing developments for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

But it does serve as a grim reminder of how bleak housing security can be for older members of the LGBTQ+ population.

Congressional Republicans this month nixed $850,000 in funding U.S. Representative Ayanna S. Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, requested for The Pryde housing development in Hyde Park, according to an announcement from her office. That money would have gone toward construction costs in converting a former Boston Public Schools building into 74 housing units for LGBTQ+ seniors. The project is also expected to include 10,000 square feet of community space.

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The earmark was supposed to close the funding gap, as construction costs have soared for the project since it was first approved and budgeted. The money was one of three earmarks stripped from the fiscal 2024 Transportation-HUD Appropriations markup, Roll Call reported on July 18.

During the panel’s first recess, the publication said, Representative Andrew Clyde, Republican of Georgia, said it would be “inappropriate” to fund the projects his party wants to cut: “That’s a woke priority, and we’re not going to spend the government’s [money]” to fund the projects.

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The other two projects were in Pennsylvania and totaled $2,770,000.

“Day in and day out, Republicans demonstrate the contempt they have for the most vulnerable people in America, and their stripping critical housing funding for senior members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Massachusetts Seventh [District] is the latest example of that,” Pressley said in a statement.

“Let’s be clear: The Pryde – a senior citizen housing project – meets the committee’s stated requirements for Community Project Funding guidance and would meet a critical need in the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District,” Pressley added. “It is unconscionable that Republican committee members would hold senior citizen-specific housing hostage and continue their dangerous national trend of targeting the LGBTQ+ community.”

The need for senior housing specifically for the LGBTQ+ population is growing, as there were roughly 3 million LGBTQ+ adults over the age of 50 in 2021 — and that number is expected to swell to around 7 million by 2030, according to a 2021 report by Sage (an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ seniors) and the National Resource on LGBT Aging.

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Senior housing is particularly important for LGBTQ+ elders, as it can provide a safe and inclusive space for a group of people prone to discrimination and harassment. The Sage and National Resource on LGBT Aging report notes LGBTQ+ elders are less likely to reach out to senior centers and meal programs and can even be reluctant to request medical care because they assume they will not experience a welcome environment in any of these places.

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Nearly 90 percent of LGBTQ+ older people said they would feel more comfortable with long-term care services if they knew the staff partook in training regarding the needs of LGBTQ+ patients.

The need for senior housing specifically for the LGBTQ+ population is growing, as there were roughly 3 million LGBTQ+ adults over the age of 50 in 2021 — and that number is expected to swell to around 7 million by 2030.

It does not appear the funding cut will hinder The Pryde’s future, however. The project is still largely funded by a mix of grants, corporate donations, and individual donations, Banker & Tradesman reported.

But the funding block is the latest in a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and policies by Republicans.

“This targeting of vulnerable LGBTQ elders who, like all seniors, deserve to grow old in community that supports them and is free from harassment and discrimination, is unconscionable and deeply wrong,” Gretchen Van Ness, executive director of LGBTQ Senior Housing — a New England-based housing advocacy group for senior members of the LGBTQ+ community — said in a statement.

“The construction and renovation work to complete the adaptive reuse of the historic former Rogers Middle School in Hyde Park will continue.”

LGBTQ Senior Housing reported on its website that the development is still slated to open in Spring 2024.

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