GOOD CHAT
The Senior LGBTQ+ Affordable Housing Crisis
Homelessness is rising among aging queer adults. Colorado Department of Human Services is trying to change that.
June 28, 2025
Image Provided by York Street Yards
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Image: Adobe Stock
Image Provided by York Street Yards
USE ARROWS TO MOVE THROUGH IMAGES
By Alex Elmore
“What we’re recognizing in the housing space is we need more types of housing,” says Kristine Burrows, Senior Specialist on Aging at Colorado Department of Human Services. “The continuum of housing is critical.”
She uses the analogy of a chair. In kindergarten there are tiny chairs to fit miniature bodies. Later those chairs are replaced by bigger and bigger ones, maybe even rolling office chairs for many after school. But each person always has a different type of chair that changes to meet their shifting needs throughout life. It’s the same for housing, she says. Single family homes may work for some, but often those homes become too large and expensive for aging adults with empty nests. The solution is downsizing or “rightsizing.”
For a city as large as Denver though, that becomes an ever-increasing challenge.
Colorado regularly appears in lists of most expensive states to live in. The National Low Income Housing Coalition currently puts Colorado as #8 when analyzing the number of minimum wage work hours required to afford a 2-bedroom unit. CNBC listed the state as tied for the #3 spot in summer 2024 while factoring in the cost to insure a home.
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“It’s hard to build yourself out of an affordable housing crisis,” says Evan Caster, Burrows’ colleague and Director of Homelessness Initiatives at Colorado Department of Human Resources.
The U.S. population of those 65 and older reached nearly 60 million in 2020. Around $3 million of those people are LGBTQ+, a number expected to double in five years’ time, according to advocacy group SAGE. The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress showed 1 in 5 homeless persons were aged 55 or older.
Burrows, Caster, and their colleagues are addressing these rising numbers through the state’s first ever Multi-Sector Plan on Aging. The plan was available for public comment in May and will take effect in July. The 10-year plan’s goals include creating “age friendly communities” and implementing tiered rates for assisted living facilities.
Image: Adobe Stock
In October 2024 an area of more than 30 acres in York Street Yards, located at York and 39th Street, was rezoned to be used for housing, changing from a solely industrial and commercial business park. An up-to 7 story, 75-unit adaptive use residence is planned to provide housing for the senior LGBTQ+ population in Denver. It is spearheaded by real estate group Penrose and architecture firm SKB, as well as local property owner Fred Glick. The project is also supported by The Center on Colfax, which will offer residents permanent services in the building.
The rezoning was controversial as it speedily bypassed some regulations for a land parcel so large which worried some city council members but still passed 9-2. The project is being touted as “a North Star for elder queer folks,” by city councilor Darrel Watson to Denver Business Journal.
Bryant Mehay, Manager of Elder Services at The Center on Colfax, said at a city council meeting in support of the development last fall “Our queer elders have had to endure so much between the AIDS crisis, legalized discrimination, and rejection of family and peers. [This has] the power to not add homelessness to that list.”
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About the author
An Alabama native, Alexander Elmore is the Head Researcher of the Webby award winning podcast Dark History with Bailey Sarian and Director of Marketing & Film Programming - Features at Denver Documentary Society. He holds a B.F.A. in Film and Television from the University of Colorado Denver. His reporting has appeared in The CU Sentry, Looper, and Westword. He has screened work at Denver Film, International Film Series at CU Boulder, Jersey Devil, DracFest, and internationally with 48 Hour Film Project.