Building H.O.U.S.E (Healthy Outcomes Using a Supportive Environment): Exploring the Role of Affordable and Inclusive Housing for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Qualitative Findings
3.1.1. Housing Stability Improves Mental Health and Reduces Stress
My mental well-being seems to be healthier, [and] my physical [well-being]. Financially, it’s affordable for me, so that relieves a lot of the stress and stuff. Because coming up with the rent that we had to come up with before was like … exhausting. So we get to kind of enjoy a little bit more free time, in essence, for me personally. My health seems to be relatively good.
It helps my confidence. I don’t bring [over] people that I know don’t deserve it [even if] I sometimes desire to hang with. I can go to their neck of the woods. But they’re not invited to mine. I’m not saying I’m better than anybody around this area but this is like a safe, honest-system place.
I wake up and I say, “Oh, did I dream that or is it real.” And I get up and I realize, man, I’ve died and gone to heaven. This is perfect. I have a beautiful, one-bedroom garden apartment. I love that. It’s just … I just feel so at home.
3.1.2. Physical Environment Promotes Well-Being and Healing
The architecture… it’s round… so energy flows really amazingly here, even just walking down the hallway, I get a sense of relief, whereas I’m walking in other apartment buildings, visiting friends, the hallways are about as wide as this [arm length indicated a narrow space], it seems very sterile.
I’m glad I’m in this building because there’s an elevator. I don’t have to take any stairs. Because I’m on the third floor, I can walk. And I think I can heal faster because I’m in this building.
So many of my friends had simply been driven out of the city by the levels of rent that they had to pay. Ended up in Florida and other ghastly places. And here I’m allowed to stay. It’s wonderful.
3.1.3. Community and Social Support Are Protective for Health
Creating the Community
The unity in this building is phenomenal. We’re all different walks of life, different ethnicities, but when we all come together, we’re all one. […] Everybody supports everybody. We look out for each other and we make sure that everybody is well taken care of and that’s rare. (African American straight cisgender woman)
Supporting Each Other
Once I got here, everybody was saying, “Welcome to the community”, and all this stuff. I was like, what is this whole community thing? I had no idea that this place had even existed. I realized that I really needed that. That I needed a supportive environment because I was starting to feel isolated, getting older. So for me it’s been a really positive experience.
My mood has gotten much better and my health has improved. I wake up with a smile on my face, I don’t feel isolated. I’m just taking much better care of myself, so it’s really helped a lot. And if you do have a bad day, you can talk to a social worker, you can talk to somebody else in the building. There’s always that support system here. So that helps a lot with not feeling isolated.
3.1.4. In-House Support Facilitates Access to Healthcare in LGBTQIA+ Older Adults
3.1.5. Mixed Feelings on LGBTQIA+-Welcoming Housing
3.1.6. Aging in Senior Housing
Aging in Place
It is a total gift from the universe to […] have all of my urgency taken away from me with my life. Because, as I said to my neighbors and my friends, this is the last stop for me. So I give a lot of leeway to my neighbors and my friends here, because we’re all going to be here. We’re all going to be pushing our little walkers together here.
It doesn’t feel like we’re just in an elderly place, it feels like a place that’s living, growing still. That makes a big difference, because I think if it was just really sick, old, elderly people, that would zap your energy.
I know [LGBTQIA+ nonprofit] and [housing provider] had more of an idea that we were just going to be a lot of old people, probably not able to get out and do things, but a number of us have cars. They didn’t take that into consideration, unfortunately.
We have somebody that’s almost 100 that lives with us. We see her, and she motivates us. Every time I see her walking around this building, it encourages me to want to walk. I ain’t got to it yet but it’s good, it’s an encouragement. (African American straight cisgender woman)
We’re all around the same age. You know what I mean? We’re all 55, 56, 57. So we’re kind of all the same. So we’re all going to be watching each other at the same rate get to the same spot.
4. Discussion
4.1. Identified Themes and Existing Research
4.1.1. Psychological Health and Well-Being
4.1.2. Discrimination and Housing Instability
4.1.3. Community and Psychological Health
4.1.4. Mixed Feelings about Ageism and LGBTQIA+-Welcoming Senior Housing
4.2. Strengths and Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Characteristic | Percent |
---|---|
Age mean (sd) | 61 (5.6) |
Hispanic/Latinx | 14% |
Race/ethnicity | |
American Indian/Alaska Native | 14% |
Black/African American | 38% |
Mexican | 5% |
Mixed heritage | 5% |
White | 48% |
Another | 5% |
Highest education completed | |
≤High school | 29% |
Some college/technical training | 24% |
2-year college degree | 5% |
4-year college degree | 19% |
Masters/Professional degree | 24% |
Sex assigned at birth | |
Female | 24% |
Male | 76% |
Gender identity | |
Female | 33% |
Male | 57% |
Transgender female | 14% |
Sexual orientation | |
Asexual | 10% |
Bisexual | 10% |
Gay/homosexual | 34% |
Heterosexual/straight | 40% |
Queer | 14% |
Another identity | 5% |
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Rosenwohl-Mack, A.; Smith, D.; Greene, M.; Skultety, K.; Deutsch, M.; Dubbin, L.; Flatt, J.D. Building H.O.U.S.E (Healthy Outcomes Using a Supportive Environment): Exploring the Role of Affordable and Inclusive Housing for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031699
Rosenwohl-Mack A, Smith D, Greene M, Skultety K, Deutsch M, Dubbin L, Flatt JD. Building H.O.U.S.E (Healthy Outcomes Using a Supportive Environment): Exploring the Role of Affordable and Inclusive Housing for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(3):1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031699
Chicago/Turabian StyleRosenwohl-Mack, Amy, Darin Smith, Meredith Greene, Karyn Skultety, Madeline Deutsch, Leslie Dubbin, and Jason D. Flatt. 2022. "Building H.O.U.S.E (Healthy Outcomes Using a Supportive Environment): Exploring the Role of Affordable and Inclusive Housing for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 3: 1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031699
APA StyleRosenwohl-Mack, A., Smith, D., Greene, M., Skultety, K., Deutsch, M., Dubbin, L., & Flatt, J. D. (2022). Building H.O.U.S.E (Healthy Outcomes Using a Supportive Environment): Exploring the Role of Affordable and Inclusive Housing for LGBTQIA+ Older Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031699