Approximately 80% of American households with older persons are experiencing financial difficulties, according to the National Council on Aging. Older folks require social safety nets and inexpensive housing options in order to live independently.
The need is particularly acute in elder LGBTQ+ groups, according to Cece Cox, CEO of Resource Center, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit organization established in Dallas, Texas amid the AIDS crisis in 1983.
The privileges of a legal marriage have only lately become available to seniors in this community, and they typically have fewer dependents.
The advocacy group SAGE claims that their experiences of social isolation are exacerbated.
“We frequently have a much lower household income than our heterosexual counterparts because our relationships weren’t legally recognized until 2015,” Cox said.
In order to provide affordable housing for LGBTQ+ seniors aged 55 and beyond, Resource Center constructed Oak Lawn Place, an 84-unit complex.
The building, which is located in Oak Lawn, a long-standing “gayborhood” in Dallas, opened in September 2024. The apartments in the building are priced to appeal to those who make between 30% and 60% of the median income in the area.
A one-bedroom apartment can be rented for $567 to $1,118.
The majority of the 79 one-bedroom apartments in the building have almost the same floor designs. They include of a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, and closet with a washing machine and dryer.
Five more units are made especially for those with vision and hearing impairments, enabling them to employ sound and light cues for specialized adjustments.
The external design of Oak Lawn Place, which includes elegantly crafted accent panels in colors like red, white, yellow, orange, blue, and pink, is one of its most striking characteristics. Although they don’t directly replicate a traditional Pride flag, they do serve as a nod to it.
“We didn’t want to be cliche, and we didn’t want to out the people who live here,” Cox stated. “Safety is still a concern for queer people.”
Additionally, even though the area was purposefully created with LGBTQ+ elders in mind, it is not just for them.
“It’s a welcoming gesture,” Ron Stelmarski continued. He oversaw the project’s design for Perkins & Will’s Dallas office.
The primary feature of Oak Lawn Place is community, in addition to features like a dining area, conference room, gym, and patio deck.
“When you’re a queer person, it’s really important to be able to find your tribe,” Cox stated.“We keep doing what we do because we know we’ve got to take care of our community, and we have a lot of support in doing that.”
Michael Saldivar, who has lived at Oak Lawn Place with his two dogs from the building’s inception, said, “It’s more like a community than just an apartment building.”
Other accommodating features of the facility include quieting acoustics, broad halls, and signage that has been selected for best readability. Additionally, furniture was chosen with seniors’ comfort and convenience in mind.
With assistance from partners Matthews Southwest, Volunteers of America, Perkins & Will, and Spring Valley Construction, the project came to a total cost of approximately $31 million.
“Forty-one years ago, Resource Center’s founders dreamed of a home like this, by us, for us. Their dreams were interrupted by a nightmare, the nightmare of going to funeral after funeral for friends, decimated by the early days of the AIDS pandemic,” Cox stated.
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“Our community was also fighting discrimination everywhere we turned — in houses of worship, in our families, and at work. Even though much progress has been made since then, Oak Lawn Place is one of only a handful of residential settings designed to affirm and support members of the LGBTQIA+ community, age 55+.”
It is a marvel that this progress was made, despite the suffering that goes along with it, particularly in Texas, where lawmakers have recently been emboldened to present and enact anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
The work is not yet complete. Oak Lawn’s “gayborhood” neighbors will soon have access to even more treatment and assistance thanks to the upcoming opening of Resource Center Health, a new medical institution across the street.
