The former William Barton Rogers Middle School in Hyde Park, MA, which has sat idle for years, soon will see new life as Boston’s — and all of New England’s — first affordable housing community specifically for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) older adults.
LGBTQ Senior Housing Executive Director Gretchen Van Ness told Boston radio station WBUR that approximately 65,000 LGBTQ older adults are known to be living in Massachusetts.
“They’re much, much less likely than other older adults to have family, community, church support,” she said. “So having a place to go that’s affordable and welcoming, where they can live their authentic lives, is critical for their safety and health and well-being.”
LGBTQ Senior Housing is behind the 74-unit project, for which a groundbreaking is scheduled for Friday. The first residents are expected to move into The Pryde of Hyde Park, a spin on combining “pride” and “Hyde Park,” in fall 2023.
The not-for-profit formed in 2018 explicitly to facilitate access to affordable and welcoming housing for LGBTQ older adults, Van Ness told the McKnight’s Business Daily. She said she believes that the community will serve as a model nationwide.
“We think of The Pryde as our mothership, and we plan to continue doing this kind of work in every community that we can reach into,” she said.
The task force has received much support from Boston city leaders and others, Van Ness said. When it came time for public hearings on the project, she said, she was surprised that comments from members of the neighborhood dealt more with parking issues than with future Pryde of Hyde Park residents.
“We’re in a sleeping little corner of Boston. We weren’t sure quite how Hyde Park was going to receive our proposal, and they welcomed us with open arms,” said the civil rights attorney and past president of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts and the Hyde Jackson Square Main Street.
The 10,000-square-foot former middle school was built in the 1890s and has big, open hallways and floor-to-ceiling windows, according to Van Ness. Pennrose Development agreed to partner with LGBTQ Senior Housing on the project. Architectural firm DiMella Shaffer in Boston, is designing the senior housing aparment building. Van Ness said the firm wins awards for both senior housing design as well as their LGBTQ-welcoming mission. Although the school’s exterior facade will be restored to its traditional look, the interior will have a new look, with both single- and double-occupancy apartments. A former concrete courtyard is being replaced with a pathway, pergola and gardens.
“We’re making this building green and welcoming and bringing it back to all of its original splendor,” the executive director said.
LGBTQ Senior Housing received funding from the Boston Historic Preservation Alliance, state and local historic preservation grants, as well as grants for affordable and senior housing, Van Ness said.
“Everything about this has been about, ‘What does the community need?’ and how to best involve all community partners as well as the people that will be affected by what we’re doing. The model is just fantastic,” she said.
