Groundbreaking ceremony launches first D.C. LGBTQ seniors home Mary’s House for Older Adults to operate group house for 15 seniors

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, three members of the D.C Council, and D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton joined about 200 others in a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday to launch construction of the city’s first home for LGBTQ seniors.

The local organization Mary’s House for Older Adults, which will operate the home on property it owns at 401 Anacostia Rd., S.E. in the city’s Fort Dupont neighborhood, said it will include 15 single-occupancy residential units and over 5,000 square feet of communal shared living space.

Among those hosting the event was the Mary’s House founder, president, and CEO Imani Woody, who welcomed the city officials and thanked them, including Mayor Bowser, for arranging for the city to provide financial support for the project.

Woody told the gathering that with the support of the city and private sector backers Mary’s House was “creating a brick-and-mortar residence for 15 people who identify as LGBTQ/SGL [Same Gender Loving] without fear of reprisal or discrimination.” She added, “They can bring their whole selves to 401 Anacostia Road, S.E.”

The three-story building will include on its ground floor level “common spaces such as a reception area, great room, porch, kitchen, dining, living room, and administrative offices,” according to a joint statement released by Mary’s House and Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, a D.C.-based de- velopment consulting firm that has entered a partnership with Mary’s House for the new LGBTQ seniors home.

The statement says the upper two floors will include the residential units as well as a game room, an arts and crafts room and common areas for storage, seating, and a laundry facility.

“The mission of Mary’s House is to develop housing and inclusive environments that comprehensively address affordability and access and diminishes the constant worry of discrimination or even violence based upon the LGBTQ/SGL status of the individual,” the statement says.

“Mary’s House intends to meet the emotional, recreational, social and other similar needs of older adults through health and wellness programming, referral of community and social based services, and education and advocacy,” according to the statement.

“We’re thrilled that this is advancing,” Mayor Bowser told the Washington Blade after she, other city officials, and supporters used shovels to ceremoniously “break ground” in a school yard outside Kimball Elementary School, where the ceremony was held.

Organizers said the Mary’s House property, located a short distance from the school, was not large enough to accommodate the number of people that attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

“You heard Dr. Woody say it’s been a project that’s 10 years in the making,” Bowser said. “The District is heavily involved in this very important affordable housing for the LGBTQ community,” she said.

In addition to Bowser and Norton, D.C. Council members Robert White, Anita Bonds, and Vincent Gray, who represents Ward 7 where Mary’s House is located, participated in the ceremony.

Gina Merritt, the principal and founder of Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, identifies in the joint statement the D.C. government agencies and several other companies that have become involved in helping to finance the new Mary’s House residential facility.

“We are excited to build D.C.’s first affordable, communal living space for older LGBTQ/SGL individuals,” she said in the statement. “This project would not be possible without the financial and advisory support of Mayor Bowser and the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, the D.C. Housing Finance Agency, Wells Fargo and its Growing Diverse Housing Developers program, Capital Impact and its Equitable Development program, National Affordable Housing Trust and its black Developer Capital Initiative, and Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women program,” Merritt states.

In response to a request from the Blade, Merritt said the total development cost for the new Mary’s House LGBTQ seniors residence is $11.6 million.

Woody said the construction of the new building was expected to be completed by the end of 2024. She has said the property has been a part of her life. The current smaller house on the property was her childhood home. That house will be demolished to make way for the new, larger seniors home.