DALLAS — A housing development with more than 80 apartments that is aimed at providing an affordable option for LGBTQIA+ affirming seniors opened Tuesday in Dallas.
Oak Lawn Place is located on Sadler Circle in the Oak Lawn neighborhood north of downtown.
The Resource Center, which provides services and programs for the LGBTQIA+ community, financed the $31 million project, which includes 79 one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom units in a five-story building.
The apartments are income-restricted to people who make between 30% and 60% of the area's median family income, according to the Resource Center.
Oak Lawn Place was designed to be an affordable option for LGBTQIA+ affirming seniors to have somewhere to live "without bias or barriers based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or HIV status," according to the Resource Center.
“Forty-one years ago, Resource Center’s founders dreamed of a home like this, by us, for us. Their dreams were interrupted by a nightmare, the nightmare of going to funeral after funeral for friends, decimated by the early days of the AIDS pandemic. Our community was also fighting discrimination everywhere we turned – in houses of worship, in our families, and at work,” Resource Center CEO Cece Cox said. “Even though much progress has been made since then, Oak Lawn Place is one of only a handful of residential settings designed to affirm and support members of the LGBTQIA+ community, age 55+.”
The development also includes several amenities, including a large outdoor terrace, downtown Dallas views, a community and dining room, a fitness room and a business center.
