International Experience Sharing Meeting-II was completed today
29/04/2024 | Özge Gökpınar
The guest of the meeting held via Zoom became Tonic Housing UK.
The LGBTI+ Aging Studies Programme has announced that it aims to share with its readers every month between February and May 2024, 4 of some best practices around the world for LGBTI+ elders that have not been included before in 3 different publication that it has prepared within the scope of its different studies in different years since its establishment. At the same time, it held two different Intergenerational Communication Events and it announced that it plans to organize different International Experience Sharing Meetings via zoom in March and April 2024.
The first online experience sharing meeting as a part of such advocacy activities*, was held with the presence of the representatives of Tels Quels organization from Belgium.
The guest of the second of such meeting that was held on Zoom today, 29 April, was Tonic Housing from United Kingdom. In this meeting, where 23-24 persons followed, the simultaneous translation support between English & Turkish was provided as well.
Community Manager Sherine Tolu Balogun from Tonic Housing UK explained the support provided by Tonic Housing UK to elder LGBTI+ persons in UK.
Sherine Tolu Balogun explained that Tonic Housing offers shelter support in 19 different houses for elder LGBTI+ persons and underlined that Tonic Housing is the only organization that provides such support in UK.
Balogun stated that currently there are 5 houses available that 55+ persons can stay as a couple, and then explained the conditions of staying in these houses of Tonic. She explained that when one of the couples is a retired person who purchases their system, they can easily stay in these houses until their lives end as a couple. She said that they can identify the persons who would stay in these houses with an open call for the available houses.
She stated that while they continue their work by the direct financial support from the Municipality of London, they also receive wellbeing and fund raising support from different external institutions.
She stated that Tonic Housing staff consists of 5 persons, and that they respond to the different and various health needs of the residents 24/7, thanks to the emergency button located in the homes. She explained that support is provided in accordance with the sexual orientation and gender identity diversity of those staying in the houses, and that nonbinary persons can receive support from external nonbinary experts. She stated that lots of activities such as taichi, yoga classes and movie screenings are organized in the common areas, and that they try to meet all the needs of those staying in the houses through full-fledged facilities such as laundry room.
Balogun concluded her presentation by explaining that they aim to expand their services not only to the whole Riverside region of London but also to every region of UK in the future.
After the Q&A session, the meeting was over.
The fourth and last part of the news series on international best practices will be published next week. Stay tuned.