Element 1: Proximity to Community

It is January, 2013, and I am back home in San Diego and ready dig into regular posts on my blog.  Rather than blather on about why it is critical to have senior housing facilities address the needs of LGBT seniors, I would like to start outlining some elements that I believe are critical for senior housing facilities to address if they want our business.  I have identified 10 criteria and will write about one element every time I post.

Let's begin by accepting the obvious:  we are everywhere!  I have lived in three Midwest states, the Northwest and now in California.  I have lived in rural communities, mid-size university towns, small and large cities.  Everywhere I have lived in my adult life, I have been a part of the LGBT community and many of my friends still live in those communities. 

When I was in my early 30's, I lived in the beautiful Palouse area of Idaho.  A good friend there had inherited his family's farm house and acres of beautiful rolling wheat land.  When we talked about what we would do when we got "old and gray," my friend would say, "I think we should just turn the farm into a gay retirement home! We could sit out on the front porch in our rocking chairs and wave at the cars going by."  It was an intriguing idea back then -- a gay retirement home. Now there are several LGBT designated senior housing facilities in America and more being planned.  Most are in urban communities where there there are more LGBT residents.  But what about seniors who don't live close to one of those facilities and don't want to leave their current community to do so?  What about LGBT seniors who don't want to live in a community that is designated for LGBT residents only?  I've been out of the closet for several years and can't imagine feeling complete without my straight friends in close proximity.

Wherever we live, we should have access to senior housing that doesn't just "accept" us but welcomes us and affirms who we are!  AND we should be able to "age in place" where we have made our community.  Of course we all want to live in our homes as long as we are able.  As my grandmother used to say, "They'll have to carry me outa here with my boots on!"  Reality is, many of us will not be able to care for ourselves in our homes and may need the support provided in a facility that offers leveled care or specific care to meet our needs.  There are so many senior housing facilities here in San Diego, I realized I needed some criteria to limit my search.  There is nothing on the internet at this point to help guide my thinking, so, being the kind of woman who likes to think strategically, I read everything I could find about LGBT senior housing issues and generated some elements that I believe are critical to the needs of LGBT seniors and created criteria that could be useful in measuring or evaluating any facility I might be interested in. 

Element 1:  Proximity to Community or “Aging in Place”

Local housing is available so LGBT seniors don’t need to move to another community to find affirmative housing

Possible criteria for element 1: 

• ·   Shortest distance from community in which I currently reside (if that is my community of choice)

• ·   Ratio of LGBT-affirming housing facilities to LGBT residents in that community

• ·      Percentage of LGBT residents in the housing facility is representative of the community

Are there ANY LGBT-affirming senior housing facilities in San Diego?  How about where you live?  Does this element make sense?  Does the criteria fully define the element?