The building earmarks 11 units for people with disabilities or living with HIV/AIDS.
For older LGBTQ+ adults in Maine, finding affordable housing is particularly challenging: tenants must navigate rising costs and housing scarcity, as well as potentially discriminating or isolating environments. To provide financial relief and community support, the state’s first affordable housing property intended for LGBTQ+ older adults opened on Wednesday — and already, there are four times as many applicants as there are units.
Equality Commons is located next to the Equality Community Center that provides members with accessible wellness resources and community programming. The complex boasts 54 units, 19 of which qualify as accessible. Eleven are specifically intended to serve people with disabilities or living with HIV/AIDS.
Although the complex is intended for LGBTQ+ residents, admission is not restricted to LGBTQ+ people. Rather, applicants are only required to have one household member 55 years or older, and the household must earn no more than 50% or 60% of Portland’s medium income, depending on the unit.
Jon Fetherston reported on the opening for the Maine Wire. Read the full story, below.
Read the full story: Maine’s First LGBTQ+-Focused Affordable Senior Housing Complex Opens in Portland
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