LBGT Seniors Get Affordable Housing In Fort Greene

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — Work is about to begin on an Ingersoll Houses development that will become the largest LGBT senior housing complex in the nation.

Construction on the Ingersoll Senior Residences, which will provide 145 affordable housing units to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, is slated to begin this August, according to a New York Times report.

The Ingersoll Senior Residences and its companion complex, Crotona Park in the Bronx, will be the first subsidized housing units in New York City intended specifically for LGBT elders.

The project is the result of a collaboration between the nonprofit Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders and the New York City Housing Authority, the agency that owns the land.

The $78 million, 17-story apartment building will include 145 one-bedroom and studio apartments and three outdoor terraces, and is expected to open in 2019, according to the New York Times.

The development is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan, which calls for the creation of 200,000 additional affordable housing units in New York City, and 25 percent of its affordable apartments will be reserved for the homeless, the New York Times reported.

The New York Times spoke with several people expressed gratitude that the new LGBT senior residence was being built.

“It would answer my prayers,” said Mary Ellen Green, 61, “We would all look out for each other.”

“You need to have neighbors you can talk to freely,” added Felicia Holley, 78. “When you’re younger, you can always go party out of your neighborhood, but when you’re older, where can you go?”

SAGE has agreed to provide an on-site community center which will be available to residents and the broader Ingersoll Houses Community.

Photo courtesy of NYCHA