New commission aims to improve the quality of life for older LGBTQ+ New Yorkers

The New York City Department for the Aging will establish a commission to improve the quality of life of LGBTQ+ older adults under a new bill passed last month.

The commission’s goals would be to “identify challenges, share best practices, and develop expert recommendations on ways to improve the quality of life” of LGBTQ+ older adults, according to the bill, Int. 564. The commission will look at issues such as health, housing, financial, social and long-term care needs of LGBTQ+ community.

Older LGBTQ+ adults living in New York face disproportionately higher rates of poverty, discrimination and loneliness, according to an AARP study.

“Many are isolated and disconnected from services in part because LGBTQ older people are far more likely to live alone than non-LGBTQ individuals and far less likely to rely on adult children or other family members for informal caregiving,” the AARP study said.

The commission comes as older adults nationwide are grappling with isolation, desires to age in place and rising costs of housing and care. 

People aged 65 and older are the fastest-growing group of people without housing, according to the University of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, about one-third of people 50 years old or older pay more than 30% of their incomes for housing, putting them as “rent burdened,” according to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Add to these issues the identity, medical complexity and social challenges of the LGBTQ+ community and concerns about aging get more complex. For example, 34% of LGBTQ+ older people worry about having to hide their identity to access senior housing, according to SAGE, which provides advocacy and services to LGBTQ+ older adults.

The commission will be filled with a range of LGBTQ+ advocates, including community-based healthcare organizations, HIV and AIDS service providers, trans-led advocacy organizations, labor organizations and organizations that serve Black, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Indigenous and Latinx LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers. The commissioner of the NYC Department for the Aging will also make appointments to the group.

“Our city’s LGBTQ+ elders and older New Yorkers living with HIV have always been at the forefront of the movement for LGBTQ+ equality and justice. The establishment of a commission dedicated to addressing the unique needs of this community will help ensure that these history-makers have equitable access to the services they need to age with dignity and respect,”  Darcy Connors, executive director of SAGEServes, a division of SAGE, said in a statement.

The bill “represents tangible progress in the way our city cares for our LGBTQIA+ older neighbors,” New York City Councilmember Crystal Hudson, chair of the committee on aging, said in a statement. “Establishing a group where experts can identify the challenges facing our queer elders, voice their concerns, and put forth meaningful solutions to meet these material needs, is a vital step toward closing the gap in services and resources offered to queer folks across the five boroughs.”