HOUSTON – (By Michelle Leigh Smith for Realty News Report) – A new, purpose-built senior living community affirming LGBTQ residents has opened near downtown Houston. The four-story Law Harrington Senior Living Center offers 112 units and a distinctive entry tower clad in multicolored translucent panels, providing an inviting landmark in the Third Ward.
The project was championed by Annise Parker, who served as mayor of Houston from 2010 to 2016 and was the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city. After seven years of fundraising, community planning, design collaboration and construction, the center at 2222 Cleburne is welcoming its first residents.
Located south of downtown adjacent to Highway 288, the development sits in the Third Ward neighborhood and is intended to serve LGBTQ seniors while remaining open to older adults of all backgrounds and identities.
“How many places in America do they have a place like this?” says Dina Montalbo, 74, one of the initial residents. “Oh my God, everything about this place is fantastic!”
Construction is wrapping up while residents move in. According to the Montrose Center, which led development of the project, the team received an occupancy permit on January 8 and began leasing immediately. More than 64 percent of the 112 units have been assigned and 30 seniors have already moved in. The apartments include one- and two-bedroom units, all offered on a sliding-scale rent structure based on income and supported by federal tax credits.
The building was designed by Smith & Company. Units range from about 878 to 1,234 square feet and feature full kitchens; some include spacious patios. Community amenities include a 17,196-square-foot clubhouse near the leasing office as well as a social workers’ suite and an on-site clinic. Exterior colors and materials were chosen to complement the neighborhood with tones of dark brown, tan and white.
Mayor Parker: Montrose Land Prices Were Too High
“I am very proud of it. I toured it two weeks ago and it’s very beautiful,” said former mayor Annise Parker, who played a central role in advancing the center. While initial plans considered Montrose, rising land values there made it infeasible to achieve the project’s capacity goals. Planners instead identified the tract on Cleburne within reach of the Montrose Center’s service area.
Parker described the collaborative effort that brought the project to fruition: city housing officials, nonprofit leadership including Tammi Wallace and Ann Robison, board members such as Kennedy Loftin, and a management partner, Hettig Kahn, joined to ensure the community would be professionally operated. The Montrose Center will oversee the project through its board while Hettig Kahn provides property management expertise.
Although the community is open to all seniors, it will be marketed and operated as explicitly affirming to LGBTQ residents. Funding came from a mix of public and philanthropic sources, including government grants and foundations. The project also faced local concerns — neighbors initially preferred single-family homes and worried about uses like homeless shelters — but planners noted the site required significant environmental remediation for single-family development and that the new building was designed for independent, ultra-low-income seniors rather than as a shelter.
Namesakes: Early Day Activists
The center honors early LGBTQ activists Gene Harrington and Charles Law. Harrington, a law professor at Texas Southern University, and Law, an organizer and speaker at historic LGBTQ events, both played influential roles in building Houston’s LGBTQ movement decades ago. Tammi Wallace, a co-founder of the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce, noted how unimaginable a dedicated senior living community focused on LGBTQ residents would have been for activists in the 1970s and 1980s.
Wallace explained that many older LGBTQ people previously faced the prospect of nursing homes or care settings that were not affirming, which forced them back into hiding and exposed them to discrimination. The Law Harrington community seeks to create safe, dignified housing options so seniors do not have to hide or risk maltreatment as their care needs grow.
The Pioneer Generation that Came Out
Community members describe the new center as a long-overdue, pioneering solution. Christopher Barry, owner of a Montrose-area bar, called it striking that a dedicated LGBTQ seniors center would only open in 2021. Montrose Center Chief Development Officer Kennedy Loftin credited earlier generations who lived openly in workplaces and families and who built the social foundations that make today’s services possible. Those trailblazers often suffered workplace discrimination, economic losses and the inability to access legal protections like marriage, which left many vulnerable later in life.
Lose Your Partner, Lose Your Home
Longtime community activist Ken Stewart described the bleak housing options many LGBTQ seniors once faced, from substandard low-rent motels to hostile care facilities. Without family or legal protections, losing a partner could also mean losing housing and security, underscoring the need for affirming, stable senior housing.
Funding Sources and Community Generosity
The Law Harrington Senior Living Center was financed through a public-private partnership. The City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department provided $5.1 million in funding, and the Midtown Redevelopment Authority donated the development site, valued at approximately $3.38 million. The Midtown Redevelopment Authority also invested in environmental cleanup of the former brownfield site, contributing $1.2 million toward remediation; roughly $600,000 of that was reimbursed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Philanthropic support played a major role. Early gifts came from the Hollyfield Foundation, and leadership gifts were provided by the LTR Lewis Cloverdale Foundation and the John Steven Kellett Foundation. The largest private contribution came from the Kinder Foundation, which committed $1.5 million to the project.
Community Impact
The collaborative spirit behind Law Harrington reflects a broader effort to invest in historically under-resourced neighborhoods. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner noted that the Third Ward is one of the city’s Complete Communities, where public agencies, nonprofits and private partners are working together to expand opportunities and affordable housing. The new center adds a culturally responsive, affordable option for older adults in an area that has faced persistent disinvestment.
Closing Quotation: “HEARD ABOUT HOUSTON?” – David Byrne, Talking Heads. – “Life During Wartime.”
Feb. 24, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
File: Nation’s Largest LGBTQ Seniors Housing Center Opens In Houston
Featured Image: Law Harrington Center. Photo by Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report, Copyright 2021