Sweden’s first retirement home for elderly members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities opened in Stockholm on Friday, capping a four-year effort that may spark a new trend.
On Friday afternoon, residents and supporters of the Regnbågen (‘Rainbow’) senior living facility will gather for an official opening ceremony for the facility, which located in Stockholm‘s Gärdet neighbourhood.
Regnbågen is a cooperative renters association for people aged 55 and older that offers 27 flats located on the top three levels of an eight-storey building on Sandhamnsgatan.
Forty men and women have already moved into the facility, which means the majority of the association’s 90 members are waiting for a flat to open up.
“Some of our members are younger people who are in their thirties who are planning for the future by getting in the queue now,” said Mononen, who is 64 and joined the association earlier this year. He explained that Regnbågen is meant to be a place where members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities can feel comfortable in their later years.
Plans for the facility were hatched in earnest back in 2009 and involved representatives from Stockholms Äldreboende AB, which manages the provision of care of a nursing home in the northern section of central Stockholm, and Micasa Fastigheter, which manages all of Stockholm’s nursing home properties. When it became clear that there was strong interest among members of the city’s LGBT community for an senior living facility with their interests in mind, the project gained additional momentum.
While the facility caters to the needs of homosexuals, including staff trained in issues specific to the community, it would be open to anyone and would accept residents from around the country.
Source: The Local - David Landes