“How might Clarendon Presbyterian Church best answer the call of Christ to love thy neighbor through redevelopment of church land for affordable senior LGBTQ+ housing and what are the best practices to create a national movement? ”
North Park Seniors Triangle Square Senior Apartments Open House Opal House Pride Place Stonewall House and Pride House John C. Anderson Apartments: These are ten of about a dozen affordable senior LGBTQ+ affirming apartment homes across the United States. Our church is in the process of redeveloping our property to include at least 92 units of senior affordable LGBTQ+ affirming housing 3500 square feet of new church space which we are working to make a community center and a new space for the affirming Clarendon Child Care Center preschool. We hope to open in 2029. Churches are increasingly redeveloping their properties for housing both affordable and market-rate. There is only one other church in the US that has redeveloped their property for affordable LGBTQ+ affirming housing which is desperately needed. I plan to research LGBTQ+ affirming housing best practices and then to visit the ten sites to hold listening sessions with residents staff and neighbors. I will make similar site visits to three Christian affirming retreat centers. The listening sessions would establish supportive relationships as well as develop qualitative best practices for our church. The data can further be used to encourage a national movement of churches to consider affordable senior LGBTQ+ housing as a way to support the community to gain financial stability and to answer Christ’s call to love thy neighbor.