Abstract
Tonic Housing recently launched the UK’s first LGBT+ affirming(1) retirement community. Called Tonic@Bankhouse, this is a major milestone for LGBT+ people in the UK, for reasons I’ll discuss in this blog. However, one thing that surprised me at the time of the announcement was that some people questioned whether such a scheme was necessary. The inference behind this seemed to be that since LGBT+ rights have improved significantly over the past twenty years, with the advent of equality legislation, that this must inevitably mean a brighter, happier and inclusive later life! The idea that LGBT+ people approach later life with concerns about their housing must surely be consigned to the past? Well, I’m afraid research I and others have conducted over the past five years suggests that this is not the case and that the UK, like other countries, really needs what I call a ‘rainbow mosaic’ future in relation to housing for older LGBT+ people