LGBTQ-friendly affordable housing for seniors coming to Westchester: What to know

WHITE PLAINS — Within a few years, the new Court Street Residences should be ready to offer seniors affordable housing in an environment designed to be LGBTQ friendly: 140 units of studio and one-bedroom apartments; offices for The LOFT, an LGBTQ+ community center that serves Westchester; and medical offices for an LGBTQ-affirming health care provider.

But right now, the southwest corner of Court and Quarropas streets houses a county-owned parking lot, next to the Board of Elections.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said a deal to lease the lot to developers helps ensure affordable housing amid the current boom of high-end, amenity-rich apartment complexes from New Rochelle to Harrison.

It will also fulfill housing and support needs for older people who are part of the LGBTQ community, said Judy Troilo, executive director of The LOFT.

"A lot of folks don't have anyone," Troilo said, adding that older people may have been ostracized from family, didn't marry or have kids in an era before the laws and culture caught up to their reality. "Their family becomes the community."

How the deal got done

Latimer said counties don't operate housing authorities. With land at a premium, leasing county property was a way to draw a builder's interest.

"We incent the housing by the tools that we have," Latimer said.

The Westchester Board of Legislators unanimously approved the lease agreement in April.

A corporation formed by the nonprofit HANAC, Inc. and Monadnock Development LLC, will construct the Court Street Residences. Health services will be provided by Circle Care Center, an LGBTQ+ specific health care provider. The LOFT will occupy a 7,000-square-foot space.

Blanca Lopez, Westchester's assistant director of operations, explained that this sort of supportive housing is open to all. Those who need the services onsite, though, would likely seek out such housing.

"It's inclusionary," Troilo said. "Not exclusionary."

Seeing a need

A 2018 needs assessment survey by the LOFT and Westchester Community Foundation showed an overwhelming need by LGBTQ seniors for "affirming and affordable housing," Troilo said.

Older people who are LGBTQ may end up in unwelcoming situations when they need supportive living situations. "They go back into the closet," Troilo said, "a horrible way to live, especially in your senior years."

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Troilo said Westchester's work could be a model nationwide; few housing sites across the country support LGBTQ elders with a range of services like the Court Street Residences will.

Meanwhile, Troilo is looking forward to the day the center is just a block away from Westchester Pride, a festival that takes place each June down Court Street.

Who will qualify

The 140 units (there's another unit for an on-site manager) will be subject to affordability restrictions for the entire term of the developer's lease, which can be up to 95 years.

Units will be for those 62 and older with incomes at or below 80% and 60% of the area median income, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

An application process isn't established yet.

Former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones secured $1.5 million in federal funding for The LOFT 's new digs.

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.