A housing association in Berlin has announced it will soon begin construction on a social housing project in the heart of the city exclusively for female senior citizens who identify as lesbian or bisexual.
The complex will comprise an eight-story building with 72 apartments “in the best inner-city location.” It will also have a cultural center, a neighborhood café, consultation rooms and event rooms.
The project is a collaboration between Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Berlin-Mitte (WBM) state-owned housing association and the Rad und Tat (RuT) lesbian initiative, which will open an office in the new complex.
Residential units will be available to senior homosexual females only at a subsidized rate to allow “lesbians and queer women to lead a good life and enjoy their old age in a non-discriminatory and neighborly environment,” according to a WBM press release.
Subsidized rents will start from just €6.90 per square meter, considerably less than the average rent in the central area of Berlin of €20 per square meter, according to the rent index cited by the Junge Freiheit news outlet.
“As a pioneering project in Europe, the planned lesbian housing project and queer cultural center stands for lesbian and queer visibility and gender justice,” said Jutta Brambach, managing director of RuT. “With mobile cultural events, we are already making it possible to experience how beneficial diversity is for society.”
Ephraim Gothe, the district councilor for urban development and facility management said local officials were “proud to be able to support this project as a district and thus make a further contribution to an inclusive and livable city.”
The project has a planned completion date of October 2025.