Historic Boston School Now the Setting for LGBTQ-Affirming Senior Housing

A former Boston Public Schools building has become New England's first LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing community.

According to a report by Affordable Housing Finance, the Pryde, developed by the firm Pennrose in collaboration with the Boston nonprofit LGBTQ Senior Housing, features 74 units of income- and rent-restricted housing for older adults who earn from less than 30% to 100% of the area median income in Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood.

The $37 million adaptive reuse project has also transformed the former William Barton Rogers Middle School. This structure was built as a high school in 1902 and shuttered its doors in 2016.

Historically significant exterior and interior architectural features, including the auditorium stage, mosaic tiles, and the gymnasium, were preserved. Local organizations can now access approximately 10,000 square feet of space within the facility for events.

Pryde residents can also utilize the large community room in the school's former auditorium and view movies in a tiered classroom setting. Additional resident features include a fitness center and courtyard, completed with a paved walking track and community gardens.

The LGBTQ-friendly development provides residents with resources for aging in place and access to social gatherings, cultural events, and other programming tailored for LGBTQ-affirming residents.

“LGBTQ seniors, in particular, are a little different from the general senior population in that they may have lost their birth family, perhaps lost their religious family, and, because of the AIDS epidemic, lost their chosen family,” said Karmen Cheung, regional vice president at Pennrose, in a statement for Affordable Housing Finance. “When you take away some of those communities seniors normally have as their support system, they are very vulnerable, and the ability to live in a safe affordable housing community with peers that support them is really amazing and important.”

Major funders of the new housing community include the City of Boston, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, LGBTQ Senior Housing, MassHousing, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Living Communities, the Massachusetts Historic Commission, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, MHIC, the National Park Service, Red Stone Equity Partners, TD Bank, and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.