Triumph Hall, a new affordable housing and community center for LGTQA seniors, is being planned for the Edgewater area.
Currently in the development stages, Triumph Hall will be the first of its kind to offer independent, assisted and supportive living, and nursing care for community members to age in place.
"Our personal mission in it is really about building a national movement, not only in LGBTQ senior affordable housing, but also building on the beautiful and radical world of interior design that's part of a larger design movement that's about community development and sustainability and really approaching design from a very different perspective than the consumer-based, profit-based perspective that so much of the well-known design industry is focused on, but really working to be a part of a larger movement that is saying that space matters," said Triumph Hall co-founder and Activation Studios Principal and founder Victori Motherwell, who previously went by Vea Cleary.
Motherwell is a transgender and queer designer and community activist. More specifically, he identifies as a changer along the trans/gender non-conforming spectrum. Having graduated in 2013 from the Master's program at Harrington College of Design, his Master's thesis was based on about two and half years of research on the precedent of building LGBTQ and ally affordable housing for elders in the U.S. Triumph Hall is an extension of his studies.
"I feel absolutely blessed that I could do so much of this work as a graduate student," said Motherwell. "Essentially, I had the opportunity to spend hundreds of hours with people from the community to specifically get their feedback about what needs to be included."
As an activist within LGBTQ and low-income communities, working with organizations such as Howard Brown Health Center, Broadway Youth Center and Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Motherwell explained his path to interior design is much more grounded in the ways that space affects community.
In his 30s, he is constantly asked why he is interested in LGBTQ senior living. He jokes it's for purely selfish purposes, saying for him and his queer chosen family it's a "dream of some day having a space that is just for all the beautiful queers; that we could all live there safely and happily and retire there together."
"I will say to people 'I can't wait until I'm 80 to start working on this, so I better start right now,'" Motherwell elaborated.
Motherwell's Activation Studios is the community-led interior design firm supporting Triumph Hall's establishment. Using "design as activism," the entity's mission is "to increase the relationship individuals and communities feel to the spaces they inhabit … by providing affordable design services that engage them as whole people." In so doing, Activation Studios seeks to shift the design industry through reaching out to over-looked and under-represented individuals and communities and appointing them as decision makers in the shaping of space.
LGBTQ senior activist and Triumph Hall Co-Founder Tim Schannep became concerned on the subject of LGBTQ senior housing when his husband, the late Tony Garcia, was in the hospital battling cancer. The treatment he received—and they received as a couple—was bigoted and homophobic, Schannep said. As a result, he researched LGBTQ senior housing and care options. Upon reading an article in The Huffington Post about Motherwell and his work, the two connected for the Triumph Hall project.
"My concern is queer seniors have a right to safe, respectful, dignified care," said Schannep, who lives independently. "People so desperately need more queer senior housing where they feel comfortable."
In recent months, Motherwell and Schannep have gained support and teamed up with Alderman Harry Osterman, who is committed to having Triumph Hall built in the 48th Ward.
"Ald. Osterman has been a huge supporter of gay marriage rights," Schannep said. "He's always been in our corner, so it was a natural fit."
Work on Triumph Hall has been going on for two and a half years. Research, focus groups, interviews and community meetings with LGBTQ seniors have shaped the design of this space thus far. LGBTQ senior groups such as Aging as We Are at Howard Brown Health Center and the Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders ( SAGE )-supported program Senior Voice at Center on Halsted ( "the Center" ) have provided initial feedback for the project.
"The idea is to really ideally create a space that speaks to people for years to come, not just this very moment," said Motherwell about obtaining feedback from LGBTQ seniors along with an additional intergenerational perspective. "We have the biggest generation of LGBTQ people aging into what is considered a senior right now. The need is really tremendous and is growing. We also have an entire enormous generation that was the first generation really impacted by the AIDS epidemic. So, it's a very intense generation that has in many ways suffered at the hands of government injustice most of their lives."
Among the tasks at hand, the team is looking at sites to build, meeting with interested developers, gaining more input from LGBTQ seniors on the needs for such a facility, acquiring more funding, and building a volunteer board to help with things such as community organizing, fundraising, grant writing, and social media support.
The groundbreaking is projected to be in three to five years, but both Motherwell and Schannep said it may take longer. "This is about longevity and building things to last," Motherwell said.
The non-profit Triumph Hall will be a campus-style community. The goal is to house 200 independent living units, including studios, one and two bedrooms, 40 assisted/ supportive living units, 20 nursing care units and 10 transitional units. No age range has been set yet for the potential residents.
While the Center's Town Hall Apartments opened its doors to Chicago LGBTQA seniors in 2014, Triumph Hall seeks to be a mutually beneficial sister program to the Center's affordable housing.
"What's unique about Triumph Hall is it's part of setting a national precedent around pushing movement of LGBTQA senior housing forward in that there are no LGBTQA affordable senior housing centers in the country that include opportunity to age in place because none of them yet have done something like include assisted or supported living or nursing care or things of that nature," Motherwell said.
For more information, visit activationstudios.squarespace.com .
