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Retirement community will be first designed specifically for gay seniors
Deborah Baker, Seattle Times
December 1, 2003
At 91, Hilda Rush has her cherished independence and the health to enjoy it. She lives alone, goes to her book and bridge clubs, delivers food to the homebound and works out at the gym twice a week.
"I wake up every morning, just like I did the morning before. So far, so good," Rush said.
She knows, however, that her health won't get any better and she may one day have to give up her car keys. So Rush has reserved a spot in a retirement community — of a different sort. It's for the "gay and gray."
"Santa Fe's oldest living lesbian," as Rush describes herself, plans to move to what developers say will be the nation's first full-service retirement community for the GLBT — gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender — population.
Rainbow Vision Properties plans to break ground by the end of the year on a complex that will offer condominiums for sale and independent-living and assisted-living apartments for rent.
A dining room, spa and fitness center, community rooms, rooftop cafe and studios for artists are planned.
"I'm just hoping it materializes in my lifetime," Rush said.
A far-sighted vision
Company President Joy Silver, who has been working on the project for six years, says it has been her vision for decades. And gay-friendly Santa Fe — second only to San Francisco in the percentage of households with same-sex couples, according to the 2000 Census — is the perfect spot, Silver said.
"We're in the right place at the right time," she said.
There are a handful of retirement communities in the United States that market themselves to gays and lesbians, but they don't offer such a wide range of options, according to Silver. The Santa Fe community will offer assisted-living services including medication management. A registered nurse will be on the premises round the clock.
"As far as we are aware, it is the first of its kind," said Terry Kaelber, executive director of SAGE — Senior Action in a Gay Environment, a social-services and advocacy organization — in New York City.
Kaelber says it's conservatively estimated that there are more than 3 million GLBT people over age 60 in the United States. But even so, "our community has been slow to admit that we age."
Many older members of the GLBT community have a fear of mainstream service providers and are reluctant to turn to them for help, Kaelber said.
And like the rest of the population, gays and lesbians tend to become more isolated as they get older, said David Aronstein, founder of Stonewall Communities, which plans to open a complex of cooperative apartments in Boston in the next couple of years.
Haven't been open
"The older generation in the gay and lesbian community has been kind of hidden, kind of invisible. They haven't necessarily been out of the closet," Aronstein said.
Many don't have children to care for them, he said.
"The conversation that has happened among groups of friends for years has been, 'What's going to happen to us when we're older?' " he said. "We are in the position of having to imagine what kind of future we want to have, and create it."
Rainbow Vision Santa Fe's $28 million project will be built on a 12.7-acre site just south of downtown Santa Fe. It will have 146 units: 40 condos, 80 apartments for independent living and 26 apartments for assisted living.
While it's aimed at gays and lesbians, it won't be exclusive, Silver said. Nor will it be age-restricted: Among the prospective tenants are a couple of men in their 30s from Los Angeles, one of whom has multiple sclerosis.
With barely any marketing, 45 people have signed up for the community, which is scheduled to open in 2005.
A 61-year-old Huntsville, Ala., retiree has put a deposit on a condominium. His partner of 33 years died three years ago, he said, and the loneliness is searing.
"I don't have aspirations of meeting anybody there. But I will be in the company of gay people. ... What a relief that will be," said the man, who worried about possible repercussions in Huntsville if his name was used.
Looking to lifestyle change
Rush, a retired businesswoman whose partner of 18 years died nearly 30 years ago, said she "loves to be alone" but looks forward to the possibility of meeting people closer to her age.
"My friends are mostly a lot younger than I am, and I can't keep up with them — and that bothers me a lot," she said.
Peter Lundberg, a San Francisco-area financial consultant and developer, has been researching the market for seven years.
"It's a huge and untapped market that's ready, willing and able," said Lundberg, who will target GLBT adults from ages 55 to 72 in his proposed "Our Town" retirement resort village. The location hasn't been decided.
Lundberg said surveys completed by 900 people indicate that older gays and lesbians strongly seek community.
"We want to be with others like ourselves, where you feel like you can be yourself," he said.
His survey respondents want the same services and amenities as other retirement-community residents — but delivered with a different sensibility. And, overwhelmingly, they want a place that is developed and run by other gays and lesbians, he said.
"We're all developing different models in different markets — and the market is so huge, there is no competition," he said.
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© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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