Houston: Nation’s Largest LGBTQ Seniors Housing Center Opens

In Houston, The nation’s largest LGBTQ-affirming senior living center, a 112-unit complex featuring a glowing entry tower of multicolored translucent panels, has opened near the center of Houston.

Germinated under the leadership of Annise Parker, a Houstonian who served as the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city from 2010 until 2016, the new seniors community comes as the result of long labor. After seven years of fundraising, design collaborations, meetings with community stakeholders, and the construction process, the Law Harrington Senior Living Center has received its initial occupants.

The senior living center, 2222 Cleburne, is located south of downtown, adjacent to Highway 288 in the Third Ward neighborhood.

“How many places in America do they have a place like this?” says Dina Montalbo, 74, a new resident at the four-story seniors community. “Oh my God, everything about this place is fantastic!”

Nation’s Largest LGBTQ Seniors Housing Center Opens In Houston at 2222 Cleburne. Photo courtesy Montrose Center

As the finishing touches are completed at the seniors center, Montalbo will soon be followed by other new residents, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals and other senior citizens, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

“Construction is continuing but we started moving seniors in after we got our occupancy permit on Jan 8,” says an official with the Montrose Center, an organization that led the development of the housing project. “More than 64 percent of the 112 units have been assigned. To date, 30 seniors have moved in, some are two bedrooms, some are 1 bedroom, and all rents are sliding scale. So more than half are leased. Cost is based on income, they are sliding scale and they use federal tax credits.”

Designed by the Smith & Company architecture firm, the community has living units ranging from 878 SF to 1,234 SF, with full kitchens and some with large patios. There’s a 17,196 SF clubhouse near the leasing office, social workers’ suite and clinic. The community’s exterior features complementary colors 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,” says former mayor Parker, a driving force in the development of the Law Harrington Senior Living Center.

“We wanted to do it in Montrose but land values were too high and we’d lose too much capacity if we built it in Montrose,” Parker says. “So, we drew a circle around Montrose Center and found the tract on Cleburne. My administration, the City Housing Authority and Tammi Wallace, the Montrose Center Executive Director Ann Robison and Kennedy Loftin got involved to put the big building blocks in place. We needed a partner who could operate so Montrose Center will operate through their board and a separate management company, Hettig Kahn. They deal with so many LGBT clients, they wanted to be at arm’s length on the project. They are a social service agency and they don’t rent apartment complexes.

“While it is open to anyone, they very clearly position it and market it as affirming to the LGBT community,” Parker says.

“Among the funders are Nancy and Rich Kinder, so you have government funding and some big foundation dollars, they all ponied up,” Parker says. “The only negative I heard was that it was a brownfield site. The local civic associations protested because they wanted single family homes. Because the site was a brownfield, it would take millions of dollars in remediation to make it livable for single family homes. Next, they didn’t want a homeless shelter. We designed it for ultra-low-income seniors. These are independent living apartment units. Once we answered those questions, by law, it is open to the community.”