Building safer and more appropriate housing & services for the older LGBT community (360G-CR-2123463)

Many older LGBT people have experienced directly the impact of discriminatory laws. In the context of housing and services, this can have a highly detrimental impact with some deciding to ‘go back into the closet’ when entering residential care and others being reluctant to explore the care and support they may need, because of a historic fear of discrimination and the risk of facing a similar response today.TONIC’s vision is to reduce the isolation and discrimination experienced and/or feared by older LGBT people, particularly those from the poorest backgrounds and those who are likely to suffer from the greatest inequality. One of the ways in which they propose doing so, and the focus of the funding request, is by developing a high-quality, exemplar extra care retirement scheme, in either London or Brighton, with a distinct LGBT identity and ethos. Alongside this they will influence mainstream housing provision for older people to be more sensitive to the needs of LGBT people.This grant will contribute towards the next stage of implementation, taking TONIC to the point at which the project will be built. It will include identifying a partner housing provider, finding the site for the exemplar housing project, and raising the capital required to build.