New Affordable Housing To Serve LGBTQ+ Seniors In Rhode Island
“The Landing at East Point” will be the first affordable housing development in RI for queer seniors and their allies.
Featured Image: Rendering of The Landing at East Point in East Providence, courtesy of Union Studios
Rhode Island’s first affordable housing development, The Landing at East Point, is hailed by project leaders as the first affordable housing development “specifically designed for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.” The four-story, 39-unit independent living complex will sit on 29 acres off of Bourne Avenue, and feature “light and airy apartments,” a community room, common sitting spaces, and a “small intimate courtyard.”
To be eligible, residents must be 55 and older, and earn 80 percent or less of the area median income – or $64,000 a year for an individual, according to Richard Gamache, CEO of Aldersbridge Communities, the not-for-profit behind the ~$18 million project. While project managers cannot discriminate, they will be marketing to the LGBTQ+ community. There are already 44 people on the “interest list.”
Related: San Francisco To Develop 15-Story Affordable Housing Campus For LGBTQ+ Seniors
Gamache, and Jodi L. Glass, a member of Aldersbridge’s Board of Trustees, have been driving the project along with Union Studio Architecture of Providence, R.I., which created a 3-D rendering of the development. They plan to break ground in the first half of 2026, with an eye toward officially opening in 2027.
Glass spoke with The Boston Globe about the experiences of older people, who came of age in a time when doing so wasn’t always safe. Echoes of those challenges have often persisted into later years. With that in mind, developers aren’t just creating a building – they are laying the foundation for a supportive culture.
“The need here is the same as the need all over the country. Folks in my generation – I’m 72 – grew up coming out once, of course, which may have been traumatic, and to have to come out again when one moves, if need be, to a congregate living setting, could be traumatic and dangerous,” she told the Globe. “Many times, when we go into congregate living settings and we ask if there are LGBTQ folks there, [we] hear “Oh, there’s nobody here.” But that’s because people are too afraid to come out.”
If there’s a driving vision shared by all collaborators, it’s this: to create an open, welcoming space.
