Senior Living Industry Must Not Forget Lgbtq+ Residents, Workers As Demand Rises

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There are millions of gay and trans senior living residents and workers in the U.S. Operators must not forget them as demand and occupancy grow.

In 2026, the senior living industry is stuck in a supply-demand imbalance in which operators are opening few new communities but demand for their services has quickly risen as the baby boomers turned 80 this year. A growing need for senior housing and care and a low number of new openings means that residents might have trouble accessing their preferred housing and care in the years to come.

That is especially true for the roughly seven million gay and trans people that will be over 50 by 2030. Not only will many of these adults potentially move into senior living communities, many also will find themselves caring for a loved one such as a family member or a friend.

Gay and trans older adults face more difficulties accessing and affording senior housing and care. According to the latest data from Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE), an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ older adults, gay and trans elders are more likely to experience homelessness, poverty and poor physical and mental health.

If you’ve spoken to me in the past about any of these issues, you probably know I am passionate about promoting senior housing that takes the unique needs and wants of LGBTQ+ older adults into mind.

I also think there are compelling business reasons to cater to LGBTQ+ residents and workers. Senior living operators frequently tell me they seek to build communities with residents who are vibrant, diverse, interconnected and passionate. But I don’t think that operators can actually foster those kinds of environments, at least not fully, unless they understand and support all of their residents, especially those who might hesitate to speak out for fear of discrimination.

Senior living operators have made progress supporting their LGBTQ+ workers and the people who live with them with policies that affirm and protect them. But operators that cater to gay and trans residents this week told me there’s still more work the wider industry must do.

“Every week we receive calls and emails from LGBTQ older adults from across Massachusetts and across the country who share their stories about being forced back into the closet, being harassed by neighbors and landlords, being on affordable senior housing waiting lists for years, being alone and unable to figure out how to apply for the housing they know they qualify for,” said Gretchen Van Ness, leader at LGBTQ Senior Housing and executive director of The Pryde, an affordable LGBTQ+ senior housing community near Boston. “They are desperate to find a welcoming and affordable senior community and our organization alone can never meet the need.”

In this members-only SHN+ Update, I analyze recent data and conversations on LGBTQ+ senior housing to offer the following takeaways:

• There is still a great need to serve more gay and trans older adults and workers

• How gay and trans support serves operators’ larger goals of building more organic inclusiveness and a sense of community

• What operators can do to become more inclusive, welcoming

LGBTQ+ issues affect every operator

Nearly all of the 274 senior living communities that participated in the latest Long-Term Care Equality Index from SAGE said they had discrimination policies with language that included sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s a good start.

Gay and trans rights are under attack across the U.S. in 2026 as politicians and activists seek to pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws in numerous states. LGBTQ+ older adults face not only those pressures, but also additional unique hardships of accessing senior housing.

According to the latest SAGE data from 2025, gay and trans older adults are two times as likely to live alone, two times less likely to have children and five times less likely to be married, meaning there are fewer people in their orbit to care for them as they age. More than a third (38%) of LGBTQ+ older adults provide care to a partner, and more than a quarter (29%) provide care to a friend.

At the same time, many gay and trans older adults who faced discrimination throughout their lives assume they are not welcome in senior housing. They are two-and-a-half times more likely to avoid medical care compared to the general population, and one in four trans older adults feel they must teach their health care provider about transgender issues in order to get the care they need.

All told, almost two-thirds of gay and trans older adults (64%) believe they might not have access to the services they will need while they age, according to data cited by SAGE. Another 87% are concerned they might not be able to find LGBTQ+-affirming long-term care. Almost half of LGBTQ+ older adults (45%) said they’ve experienced discrimination in housing or employment.

It comes as no surprise to me, then, that the data shows LGBTQ+ older adults experience higher rates of chronic illness and worse mental and physical health outcomes. Gay and trans older adults also face higher rates of poverty, according to data cited by SAGE.

Even if they don’t know it, these are issues that touch senior living operators. It’s likely that they already have at least some gay and trans people living and working in their properties.

“Every community includes members of the LGBTQ community,” Van Ness told me. “LGBTQ elders may not tell you that they’re there for very good reasons: they’ve lost a spouse or partner and are alone in the world, they’ve left a community or neighborhood where they had chosen family and a network of friends and don’t know how to start over again, especially given the fact that their neighbors in senior communities might be the very people who shunned and despised them when they were growing up.”

LGBTQ+ support serves industry’s larger goals

The Connie House is a gay-owned and -run assisted living community in Boynton Beach, Florida. There, six residents celebrate, enjoy arts and crafts and eat chef-prepared meals, all within a residential footprint.

CEO and President G. Allan Hendricks likens the vibe at the community to “The Golden Girls, with staff”

“Being with your with your people, you can share your life and your stories,” Hendricks told me. “It’s a safe place. For their mental health, their spiritual health, the outcomes have been pretty extraordinary.”

The Connie House’s six beds are consistently in demand. Similarly, at The Pryde near Boston, prospective residents must join a long waitlist to move into one of the community’s 74 independent living apartments.

I think that both The Connie House in Florida and The Pryde near Boston showcase why creating a safer space for gay and trans older adults can help create a more cohesive community.

Staff and residents at The Pryde have built an organic and interconnected social web of residents and friends. The community has developed four programs to support its residents, including a free store with basic household goods and personal items and nonpersihable food, a program that offers residents a stipend and a range of work opportunities, an emergency rent fund and a transportation fund.

Residents at The Pryde dine together during potluck dinners, schedule catsitting and dogsitting over messaging apps, offer each other help with tech and notary services and visit neighbors in the hospital and make sure their fridges are stocked with food when they return – all on their own. 

“In the two years since the first residents of The Pryde moved in, we’ve learned that making senior housing welcoming to LGBTQ seniors makes it welcoming to all. Pryde residents include members of the LGBTQ community, trans and nonbinary community, Haitian and Latino grandparents, white and Black, with a range of temporary and permanent physical and intellectual disabilities,” Van Ness said. “We have heard from the families of our non-LGBTQ residents that they love living at The Pryde and have never felt more seen, respected, and cared for.”

Seeing, respecting, caring for are the core tenets of many operators’ mission and value statements. At the end of the day, the senior living industry is built on how well operators can welcome their residents. Overlooking or avoiding support for LGBTQ+ workers and residents undermines that goal.

In addition to gay and trans older adults, it’s likely that communities which employ dozens of staff also have at least some LGBTQ+ workers. Understating or overlooking support for those circumstances can quietly erode a company’s culture if people don’t feel supported.

Van Ness urged her colleagues in senior housing to first, assume that there are gay and trans people living and working within their communities. In order to create more inclusive communities, senior living operators must create these supports without being asked for them. Secondly, operators must work to create more affordable and middle-market services that older adults can access — “a lot more, and in every community, as soon as possible,” she said.

“Older adults are the fastest growing group of the newly unhoused and LGBTQ older adults are overrepresented in that group,” she added.

Engaged residents, high demand, goodwill, partnerships with outside organizations – these are the targets of many senior living operators. At the end of the day, I think operators can’t create the kinds of communities they want to without the buy-in of everyone involved, including gay and trans residents and workers.

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