This story was originally published in Real Estate for Good, a new newsletter focused on how real estate is about humans – not buildings and money.

Discrimination is nothing new to Cece Cox.

Growing up as a lesbian in Texas, Cox says it was difficult to build community within a culture that demonized people like her because of who they loved. State laws deemed LGBTQIA+ people criminals until 2003, when the Supreme Court decided in Lawrence v. Texas that same-sex couples have the same right to privacy as heterosexual ones. LGBTQIA+ people could not get married until 2015, which also shut them out from their partner’s social security benefits. More recently, state lawmakers have been emboldened by President Trump to try and force the LGBTQIA+ community back into hiding.

These experiences inspired Cox to join The Resource Center more than 18 years ago. The Resource Center has been operating since 1983 and has become one of the largest LGBTQIA+ community centers in the country. It offers a full suite of physical and mental health services, comprehensive case management, programs to support transgender youths and seniors, and whatever else the LGBTQIA+ community needs to feel safe and secure, Cox says.

Now, Cox is leading the organization into the next era of its history as a nonprofit housing developer to help LGBTQIA+ seniors in Dallas build community and find stability as they age.

“When you’re a queer person, it’s really important to be able to find your tribe,” Cox says.

In September 2024, The Resource Center opened Oak Lawn Place, an 84-unit affordable housing development for LGBTQIA+ seniors aged 55 and over. Apartments are priced to serve people earning between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income, meaning single people who live there earn no more than $46,380 a year. Market-rate developers often can’t reach those AMI levels because of various factors, which makes Oak Lawn Place a critical component to closing Dallas’ affordable housing shortage.

As of 2022, Dallas had an affordable housing gap of roughly 40,000 units for people earning up to $34,000 a year. This income level covers many service industry workers and seniors living on a fixed income. According to data from the Child Poverty Action Lab, that gap is expected to exceed 79,000 by 2035.

The construction of Oak Lawn Place cost $31 million. The Resource Center financed the project through a mix of tax incremental financing, grants, loans, tax credits, and donations. Cox says there were days when The Resource Center team felt like they were in over their heads, but it was all worth it in the end.

“We keep doing what we do because we know we’ve got to take care of our community, and we have a lot of support in doing that,” Cox says.

A gayborhood revival

Oak Lawn has been the historic heart of Dallas’ LGBTQIA+ community for decades. In the 1960s, organizations like The Circle of Friends provided safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ people at a time when a queer person in Texas could be sent to prison for 15 years. The neighborhood also hosted the city’s first pride parade in 1972, was home to the Dallas Gay Political Caucus (now known as the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance), and many other events that helped shape the Dallas LGBTQIA+ community.

Yet the neighborhood, which locals still sometimes refer to as the “gayborhood,” seems to be losing a lot of this history. The Dallas Voice, a magazine dedicated to covering the city’s queer community, has been covering the demolition of historic buildings and LGBTQIA+ cultural markers for decades. There have also been numerous hate crimes committed in the neighborhood despite an increased presence of Dallas police officers. Eater Dallas recently reported that there is still a feeling of exclusion in some of the neighborhood restaurants and bars.

“There’s a lot of history there,” Cox says. “But land in Oak Lawn is, like many places in Dallas, becoming increasingly expensive and increasingly developed.”

The gentrification of Oak Lawn was one reason why The Resource Center decided to put down roots in the neighborhood, Cox says. Not only does the organization want to help preserve some of the LGBTQIA+ history of Oak Lawn, but it also wants to give Oak Lawn Park residents a chance to be a part of the community without feeling ostracized.

“Most of the people that live in the building are single, and as we age, we get more and more isolated,” Cox says.

To that end, The Resource Center purchased seven plots of land on the edge of the neighborhood. One of the plots was being used as a dump site, Cox says, and there was an old home on another. Altogether, the organization had to negotiate the purchase with four property owners before construction could begin.

Despite the difficulties, the location was too good to pass up. Oak Lawn Place is located within a half mile of The Resource Center’s main campus, which gives residents easy access to all of the services they need. It is also within walking distance of grocery stores, bars, restaurants, and other community sites to keep people active. It also offers easy access to Inwood Rd., a major thoroughfare that offers easy travel through the western Dallas suburbs.

Inclusive design

Outside of the location, Oak Lawn Place was also designed with inclusivity in mind.

Research has found that the design of affordable housing developments like Oak Lawn Place can reinforce stigmas about the projects and people who live there. A 2017 study conducted by Ohio State University found architectural design can reduce the stigma about affordable housing by creating buildings that are attractive and blend in with the surrounding neighborhood. Conversely, buildings that stand out or are unattractive often face more pushback from the local community.

The Resource Center partnered with Dallas-based development firm Matthews Southwest and architectural studio Perkins&Will to create a building that not only provided homes for LGBTQIA+ seniors but also evoked a sense of inclusivity and affirmation.

The design begins on the outside. Oak Lawn Place features a lot of brick to create a sense of permanence in a rapidly changing neighborhood. The front facade also features color panels that are a subtle nod to the modern pride flag. The back of the building features a large outdoor deck where residents can gather for social events and connect with nature.

There are just as many inclusive features inside the building as well. There’s a gym, coffee bar, shared dining spaces, and a social lounge for residents to connect. Each of the floors features a bright color theme and plenty of signage to make it easy for residents to find their way around. The building also features wide corridors and generous circulation areas that promote ease of movement. There are also floor-to-ceiling windows that let in lots of natural light. Some artworks also showcase the history of the Dallas LGBTQIA+ community’s activism.

Razan AlShadfan, a senior associate at Perkins&Will, says that the level of attention to detail in the building “reinforces a sense of dignity” among residents.

“It fosters a true feeling of home, which helps counter the burden of stigma,” AlShadfan says.

An intentional model

Oak Lawn Place represents the best of what affordable housing developers can achieve through thoughtful design. However, that thoughtfulness is often pushed to the wayside because of the urgent need to build more housing across the U.S.

New apartment buildings resembling giant boxes are being constructed in nearly every American city. You know the look — the five-over-one podium apartments that feature the same few shades of grey stucco exteriors.

The model has become popular for several reasons. First, it is cheap to build and easy to replicate. These apartments are made with wood frames, which are cheaper than the steel and concrete skeletons needed for taller buildings. The ground floors are also typically rented out to businesses to provide a blended income stream for development firms.

Liz Falletta, a professor of urban design at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, explains that zoning codes, building codes, and the needs of institutional capital that finance these projects also play a role in the bland design of affordable homes.

Zoning codes often force multifamily buildings to be built on small and constrained plots of land, thereby requiring developers to find ways of maximizing the space. Building codes also incentivize stick-built construction which leads to the homogenous developments we are seeing today. At the same time, large-scale developers are the ones building these buildings, and they need to generate predictable returns to protect their profit margins.

“These buildings are often built to sell to large real estate investment trusts, so when anything’s a commodity like that, making it similar across examples is desirable,” Falletta said in a 2023 interview.

To Falletta, spending more time arguing over how buildings look takes time away from adding more housing units. But this is a false choice. Building beautiful buildings can also help speed up housing construction by reducing community pushback against new developments. It just takes an intentional effort.

This post was originally published on Next City.