The Senior Housing Committee is seeking volunteers over the age of 50 to find out how well their housing needs are being met.

“We are interested in stories of problems encountered, discrimination, abuse and non-affordability, as well as [stories about] well-planned and executed, comfortable and fully satisfying [housing],” subcommittee member Robert Bettinger, said.

Bettinger, subcommittee member George Murphy, retired journalist Tom Turner and a group of trained volunteers are conducting interviews with senior members of the GLBT community to determine their housing and health care needs. The goal of the study is to help design a needs assessment that will define current and future housing requirements for the GLBT community in San Diego. The committee is seeking 30 to 50 individuals and couples in order to complete the project.

“The goal is to learn the different ways in which people in the GLBT 50 and over are planning for their retirement or senior-living housing,” Bettinger said.

The recession has taken a toll on the senior GLBT community.

“It has seriously affected many people who put great care and attention into their plans,” Bettinger said. “Many seniors are now trapped in housing that is no longer affordable or appropriate for them. Some are trapped because, through no fault of their own, their basic planning went awry.”

According to Bettinger, the supporters of this project include Delores Jacobs, chief executive officer of The Center, Tony Freeman, executive director of the Human Dignity Foundation, Ron deHart, executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, Jeri Dilno, former president of the San Diego Democratic Club, and Jocelyn Harris, chair of Transgender Advocacy and Service Center of San Diego, although no single entity is the driving force behind the project. Bettinger affirmed that this study may not precede senior housing development through The Center.

“It is not certain that the Center will be doing housing plans at this point. The Center is involved with the coalition to explore and determine what we might do in the San Diego community,” Bettinger said.

Bettinger hopes that as a result of this project there will be more opportunities for the senior community.

“There will be a variety of possibilities for safe and comfortable living opportunities where people won’t have to live in senior communities and hide their orientation or feel unsafe from other people who are biased or shun them. We’re hoping to raise awareness in those areas, as well as to help them get through that part of their life,” he said.

According to Murphy, some seniors prefer to avoid planning for their later years.

“[Some interviewers] said that they had mentioned this to friends, whose response was, ‘Oh gracious, I don’t even want to think about that.’ It’s kind of surprising [that they have] a head-in-the-sand concept,” Murphy said, adding that he doubts that that is a generalization for the community as a whole.

“I don’t think that’s a preponderance of the community, but [the project would be successful] if we can reach a few people and get them to start thinking about where they’re going to be in 20 years,” he said.

“I think that we are going to find there is a sizable need for low-income housing for seniors,” Murphy said.

Jocelyn Harris is on the larger committee presiding over the study.

Harris explained that GLBT seniors have difficulty with their orientation as seniors.

“What happens within the LGBT community, is when they become seniors, a lot of people go back in the closet,” Harris said.

Harris said often Medi-Cal costs of transgender individuals can become a financial hardship when they become seniors.

“When you’re talking about hormones, you’re talking $200, $300, $400 a month out of pocket,” Harris said. Some physicians may also be insensitive to the fact that someone is a transgender individual.

“There are very few physicians that are respectful of someone who is transgender,” Harris said.

Medicare and Medi-Cal have specific stipulations regarding transgender people, and it may be difficult to prove a person’s gender identity. “Once you go on Medicare or Medi-Cal, your transition medications are very hard to access,” Harris said. “[To the insurance companies], you have to be clearly female.”

Harris also explained many people in the transgender community have trouble maintaining their housing and Medi-Cal needs as seniors.

“Most of the transgender community, by statistics, do not have permanent partners. We actually lose contact with a lot of our families. By developing senior housing, this is a good way for the transgender community to have something available to them where they are accepted,” Harris said.

“Our seniors are the foundation of the LGBT community – they played key roles in making our community what it is today, and they continue to help shape where we’ll be tomorrow,” CEO of The San Diego LGBT Community Center Delores Jacobs said.

“We look forward to a LGBT senior housing needs assessment that can provide concrete information about those needs and how a coalition of community members might come together to help address them.”

The committee has completed a few interviews, but is looking for more interview subjects. Completion of this part of the process is expected by the end of spring 2009. Interview subjects can choose to remain anonymous. Interview subjects may also sign a release to give permission for their story to be published or shared to support the project. For more information, e-mail Robert Bettinger at robertbettinger@yahoo.com.