Planning, building with the GLBT community in mind
A housing project to fill the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered seniors at a variety of income levels is taking reservations. If enough spots are reserved, construction will start next fall.
By Aimee Blanchette, Star Tribune [MI]
http://www.startribune.com/417/story/890952.html
QuoteBarbara Satin, a transgendered woman in her 70s, has the first reservation to live at the Spirit on Lake Housing Cooperative, a housing community in Minneapolis for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) seniors. It's a project that Satin says is long overdue and will fulfill a need in the GLBT community.
"There is GLBT housing elsewhere in the country, but nothing in the Midwest that's marketed to this population," said Satin, who is working as a marketing consultant on the project. She is also a member of the Spirit of the Lakes Church in Minneapolis and a founder of GLBT Generations, a group that looks at the needs and concerns of GLBT seniors.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Kathy Wetzel-Mastel, PRG project manager, said that retirement living specific to the GLBT community is a growing trend, but until now, most have skewed to those with higher incomes. "This is one of the first, if the not the first, housing project to do a mixed-income approach."
Twenty percent of the 41 units are planned for households that earn less than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). Twenty percent are for households earning less than 80 percent of the AMI and are intended for those with little or no equity from the sale of a home to reinvest. Of the remaining units, 15 will have income limits of 115 percent AMI and 10 are reserved without restrictions.