For members of the senior care industry, and for those working in and for senior retirement communities especially, this guide is meant as a practical tool for improving your care and cultural competency for LGBT clients and residents, and to provide an invitation to join our initiative next year.

As mentioned above, there are “Best Practices” features here with real examples of policy, procedure, programmatic, and staff training enhancements accomplished throughout North Texas. We will educate you on the work of the Coalition for Aging LGBT and other resources available in order to empower you to greater serve and advocate for your LGBT clients and residents. As the LGBT aging population continues to grow at a rapid pace, this kind of education and engagement will become essential to provide effective care, and to better market yourself and your company to this growing demographic. Further information on this initiative, its history, and the process a senior housing community goes through in order to be included in the next Guide will be provided within this webpage.

We are so grateful you’ve decided to view our online North Texas LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing Guide. We hope it serves you well on your search for a home, or to improve your care for LGBT seniors.
A word from our Chair, Sandy Anderson
Thank you for accessing the 2021 version of the digitally responsive North Texas LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing Guide (“the Guide”).   This edition of “the Guide” has all of the old content, new content, and more accessible details that allow you to find data specific to your needs:  your county, your city, and your requested service - with just a click.  It’s a virtual view of the old “Guide” into which much work, love, and commitment was given.  
 
This expansion of the service assessments, as well as the more digitized updating process, will allow ongoing editions of “the Guide” to be immediately updated online and available to you as assessments are finalized and providers are listed.  We will continue to reassess existing communities and expand with new retirement communities.  In the coming months, you will also find not only an updated list of retirement communities, but access to hospice providers and at-home health care practitioners which are LGBT culturally competent and inclusive.  By expanding the assessment process to cover a broader range of services, we continue our mission to serve the needs of the senior LGBT community living in North Texas.  
 
Content will be added individually as each entity is vetted.   Please check back frequently to access the most current version of “the Guide” to ensure that you access the latest information available.
 
As the current Board Chair of the Coalition for Aging LGBT, I am honored to work with our dedicated board members, staff and volunteers, as we continue this essential work.
Sandy Anderson,
Board Chair
​Coalition for Aging LGBT
August 12, 2021​

Best Practices

For members of the senior care industry, and for those working in and for senior retirement communities especially, this guide is meant as a practical tool for improving your care and cultural competency for LGBT clients and residents, and to provide an invitation to join our initiative next year. 

View our Best Practices blogs here, and contact us if you want to be a part of the initiative.

​Some of the unique problems/challenges facing the mature LGBT community: 

  • Loneliness due to loss of life partner or long term relationship
  • No children for many members of the community and limited family to provide care and companionship
  • Loss interest in personal enrichment activities outside the home due to limited (or no) sense of community and/or companionship
  • Travel (in an open-and-accepting environment)
  • Arts & Crafts
  • Culinary Skills (eating well as we age)
  • Limited or no LGBT welcoming transitional living facilities 
  • Lack of social settings or groups, (not into the bar scene or many venues suited for younger members of the community) 
  • Unique financial and legal situations that members face (due to no protection through traditional marriage rights) 
  • Possible poor diet due to eating alone and loss of interest,
  • No link between the young and the mature members of the community – a need for mentoring and relationship building 
  • Understanding the stages of the aging process and how that may be unique [for LGBT people]
  • Grief counseling oriented toward this population

Are you interested in volunteering for the CfA LGBT?

If you have a specific skill or experience to add value to our Coalition for Aging LGBT (CfA LGBT), join us and we will be grateful for your commitment.

Are you a Service Provider?

If you have a great service that can include LGBT seniors, we would love your partnership to the Coalition for Aging LGBT (CfA LGBT).

Share your events 
with us.

Let us know if there is any upcoming events that you want us to share on our Coalition for Aging LGBT (CfA LGBT) page.

How to participate

If you are a retirement community in either Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, or Collin County, and would like to participate in our next North Texas LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing Guide, you can click the button below or contact:
[email protected] 
For general inquiries about the Coalition for Aging LGBT, to learn more about volunteering opportunities, or to donate to our mission, please contact:
[email protected]

What is the North Texas LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing Initiative?

Originally launched in December 2017, the North Texas LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing Initiative is a program of the Coalition for Aging LGBT (CfA LGBT), designed to empower senior retirement communities to provide safe, welcoming housing options, and connect them to LGBT seniors and their friends and families looking for a home. We recognize that education and relationship-building are essential, as many service providers are interested in improving their LGBT cultural competency, but require greater support on this journey. 
​
This online guide is the result of years of relationship-building, support, and hard work between our CfA LGBT volunteers and the dedicated staff of various Senior Retirement Communities in the four-county area of North Texas (Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, and Collin counties). Each of these communities has attained a passing score on our LGBT-Friendly Senior Housing Metric. The Metric covers areas such as LGBT-friendly policy updates, LGBT cultural competencies, procedure changes, staff training, programming, outreach, and marketing enhancements. The goal of this standard is to increase the visibility of the LGBT community and to form explicitly LGBT-affirming practices and LGBT cultural competencies in each community.