cfa lgbt housing guide updated-4 (1) - Flipbook - Page 67
HOUSING GUIDE
About The Initiative
About the
North Texas
LGBT-Friendly
Senior Housing
Initiative
66 cfa.lgbt
About The Initiative
HOUSING GUIDE
In 2015, the Coalition for Aging LGBT
(CFA LGBT) began conversations on how
to best provide LGBT-affirmative senior
housing in North Texas. It was decided
that encouraging existing communities
to engage in LGBT-competent practices
throughout the region was the most
effective way to meet the needs of the
LGBT community. In 2016, Dr. Dawnetta
Miller, the chair of the CFA LGBT Housing
Committee, began conversations with
Educare and SAGE Metro Portland, a
program of Friendly House, to develop an
appropriate metric to evaluate a senior
housing community’s “LGBT friendliness.”
Brian Price joined CFA LGBT in July of
2017, becoming co-chair of the Housing
Committee. He decided, with the blessing
and support of the CFA LGBT board, to
travel to Portland, Oregon that October to
learn from SAGE Metro Portland’s “Guide to
LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing in Oregon”.
SAGE had been operating since 2014 to
provide an “LGBT-Friendly” designation to
communities willing to fill out a survey and
work with SAGE to meet the basic standards
to provide a welcoming environment
for its LGBT seniors. Brian developed a
report summarizing Portland’s program,
its process, and lessons learned. From this
report, he worked with Dr. Dawnetta Miller
and the CFA LGBT board and volunteers to
develop and implement a similar program
for North Texas.
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