1,500 applicants for 48 units: Broward affordable housing for LGBTQ seniors is a hit
Carrfour Supportive Housing has developed 21 affordable housing communities in Miami-Dade, but never in its 27-year history has it seen as much interest as in its first Broward project.
The Residences at Equality Park at 2040 North Dixie Highway, an affordable housing LGBTQ community in Wilton Manors, attracted 1,500 applicants in an open call for residents in June. The four-story, 48-unit building is for low-income seniors. Carrfour and its partner the nonprofit Pride Center, which manages three commercial towers on the 5.5 acre where the Residences at Equality Park is located, decided to hold a lottery on Wednesday to select residents.
“For this demographic, there was a dire need [for affordable housing] even prior to the pandemic. There’s very little supply in Broward,” said Stephanie Berman-Eisenberg, president & CEO of Carrfour Supportive Housing.
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Residents must be 55 and up. The units range from a studio to a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with rent ranging from $350 $1,029. . About 60% of units, or 43, are reserved for residents who earn 60% or less of Broward’s area median income — $35,400 annually for a one-person household. The remaining 33% of units, or 5, will be assigned to those who earn 33% or less of the county’s AMI — $17,700 for a one-person household. Thirty-four units will also be reserved for LGBTQ residents with disabilities, include those diagnosed with AIDS.
The Residences at Equality Park is expected to receive its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, allowing renters to move in, by late August. When it does, the building will have a gym, library and computer room, plus 300,000-square-feet of office and gathering space. Programming includes weekly gatherings for the LGBTQ community; prior to the pandemic, about 200 typically attended, said Robert Boo, CEO of the Pride Center.
The community will provide an open, safe place where people can come together and live in an openly gay environment, Boo said.
The project is another option where active agers can opt to go instead of choosing a nursing home, Berman-Eisenberg said. “Sometimes these active agers have to go to a nursing home. For some, it may be what they need. But in other cases, they just need light-touch services that helps them live independently.”
