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City of Brotherly Love Breaking Ground On LGBT Retirement Home

Posted by on Apr 17, 2012 in U.S. | 0 comments

Philadelphia is making good on it’s moniker as the City of Brotherly Love by breaking ground on an LGBT retirement home.

The new complex, a six-story building with 56 one-bedroom units, will be built on South 13th Street between Locust and Spruce streets. A previous proposal would have placed the residences above the William Way Center, a hub for LGBT services nearby.

acob Fisher, senior developer for Pennrose Properties L.L.C., the company that will be building the Philadelphia project, said the structure will include 2,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

It will include a community center, garden and areas where social-service agencies will provide medical care and other assistance.

The $19 million project will be funded with $8 million in public funding and the $11 million tax credit announced last week. That sum, Fisher explained, which originated with the federal low-income tax credit program, will be sold to private investors and then applied to building.

There have been a number of these types of complexes opening across the country in recent years, as most states do not have laws making housing discrimination against LGBT renters illegal. Far too often, same-sex couples are denied residence at retirement homes or forced to rent two single rooms.

On a personal note, my foster mother and sister live in Philadelphia, and I’m looking forward to checking this place out once it opens!

(via Philly.com)