Voices of Mosaic Apartments

On weekend nights in the 1970s, Beth Kukucka, then a high school senior in Cambria County, dodged rocks and bottles hurled at her when she left a gay bar in Cresson. In a sort of evening ritual in the ‘80s, she returned home in Squirrel Hill from work, and a neighbor sitting on his porch with his cigarette glowing in the dark spat out the slur, “Dyke.” And about once a month in the ‘90s, a teenager slashed the tires of her Pontiac Sunbird, his identity protected by her Bloomfield neighbors.

This half-century of abuse has weighed on Kukucka, now 67. But last year, she found some solace by going every few weeks to the garage roof of the former Hampton Inn to admire the construction of Mosaic Apartments, the first housing complex for LGBTQ+ people and their allies in Western Pennsylvania. Little did she know that she was staring into the very window of her future home.

“Most of us have really been through at least some form of discrimination, and so it’s nice to feel celebrated instead of discriminated against,” she said.

Safe, secure and comfortable

Open since November 2025, the $28.5 million project on Forbes and Craft avenues in Oakland provides a haven of safety and affordability for 53 older adults.

At Mosaic’s end-of-summer bash on Labor Day, about 35 persons gathered, recognizing the late LGBTQ+ rights activist Kathi Boyle. They dedicated the community room in her honor. Ariel Bartunek, 65, recalled that 10 years ago, after hearing LGBTQ+ people complain about housing discrimination, Boyle approached Presbyterian SeniorCare Network with the idea that became Mosaic.

“She wanted to make sure we would have a place where we’d be so safe, secure and comfortable,” Bartunek said.

Boyle’s idea has grown, protecting residents like Shekinah Rose, 65, a transgender woman who has lived 41 years with HIV/AIDS.

Rose, who has a spinal cord injury, sat in a power wheelchair in her living room, decorated with a “Love is Love” fan in the trans colors of light blue, pink, and white and a burnt wooden square of a wheat wreath inscribed with “Walk by Faith.” She sported an ombré teal hairdo, loopy earrings, a tie-dye top, denim shorts, and pink sandals. And in a soft voice, she recounted a troubled life.

She grew up in the area – she declined to say exactly where – in a family that taunted her for being a girl. She was forced instead to be someone she is not – a male. Older men preyed upon her with alcohol, lies, and force.

“I’m a childhood sexual assault survivor,” she said.

In the last three years, Rose has been assaulted three times at public places in the city but not in Mosaic where she moved on July 1. The building features double-doorway entrances and cameras monitoring public spaces.

“I’m hypervigilant every day. Since I moved to Mosaic, it’s reduced,” said Rose, an advocate for trans people and those living with HIV/AIDS. “I don’t feel threatened. I’m more relaxed. I can sleep.”

Bartunek added, “It’s a safe place – physically safe and also safe in that I don’t have to worry about someone being homophobic.”

Service coordinator Caitlin Sanders, a social worker, said one resident told her that he feels safe here, but that residents at his previous apartment harassed him so much that he was afraid to walk in the stairwell alone. 

“Many older adults in the LGBTQ+ community came out during and lived through times much less safe and affirming than our current times, though, of course, things are getting much less safe now,” she wrote.

The mere appearance of Mosaic is comforting. Artists consulted with residents on the themes of murals inside and out. With the triangular projections of its panels on the facade, the five-story building actually changes color and shimmers in sundry shades when pedestrians and motorists pass by.

“The range of color, shades of blues and shades of green, represents the range of gender and sexuality of this population,” said Daniel Rothschild, the architect of the building from Rothschild Doyno Collaborative in the Strip District.

Elder boom

The building signals the national increase in housing serving LGBTQ+ people. Since 2015, at least 27 of these developments with 1,756 units have been built nationwide, according to SAGE USA, a New York City-based group that helps older adults in the LGBTQ+ community. That’s a 350% increase over the past decade.

Triggering this growth is the boom of older LGBTQ+ people. SAGE estimates there are nearly 3 million LGBTQ+ older adults in the nation and expects that number to more than double to about 7 million by 2030.

The big problem for this group is finding housing that is safe – emotionally and physically – and affordable, advocates said.

Josh Dubensky, manager of housing for SAGE, said, “LGBTQ+ adults have to wonder if they have to hide who they are. Over the years, that takes a toll on you.”

Seniors in the LGBTQ+ community, often victims of job discrimination, may have faced the whammy of lower pay that brings smaller savings and lower Social Security benefits. All that poses difficulty in finding an affordable place to live in their golden years.

Kukucka, for instance, retired from a career in photography and switched to making inspirational films and writing books. But she lives mostly off Social Security. She declined to specify her rent, but it is a fraction of the $1,600 a month that she paid five years ago for a smaller apartment in Los Angeles.

Income restrictions at Mosaic are $60,840 for one person and $70,720 for two. Residents pay 30% of their annual gross income for rent, topping out at $1,500 a month.

Bob Kunkle, 73, who identifies as gay, finds the $943 a month he pays for his one-bedroom apartment in Mosaic cheaper than the $2,500 a month he paid for his four-bedroom house in Homestead. “I like not having to maintain a 1957 split-level, which, as I got older, proved to be harder and harder,” he said.

He likes Mosaic’s garage and elevator. He and his constant companion DeeDee, a Miniature Schnauzer, also appreciate the building’s dog run and spa with a dog-washing station.

Paul Kovacik, 72, a retired architect who describes himself as a “sexual independent,” lives in an eclectic apartment decorated with a 1960 Jeep windshield doubling as a mirror, a red lamé cardinal’s outfit with mitre and a Sergeant Peppers jacket.

With his $250 subsidy, Kovacik spends $750 a month on rent plus about $65 for electricity. He likes the building’s location on two bus lines, his neighbors, and the electric charging station in the garage. “I feel blessed to be here,” he said.

Living alone

Another issue for older LGBTQ+ adults is isolation. SAGE reports that this population is twice as likely to live alone, five times less likely to have married, and twice as less likely to have children.

Kukucka said, “Many of us don’t have kids, so what happens to us when we’re on a fixed income, we’re getting older, maybe a little compromised physically, and we need some help?”

Some residents cited issues with occupants. Jody Harrington, 70, a lesbian originally from Vermont, complained that one resident steals from others, and she wonders why all the residents are not LGBTQ+. Other residents said an occupant harassed a trans man who lives there – one of the reasons he plans to move.

Jonathan Szish, Presbyterian spokesman, said the development is investigating the allegation of theft. He said fair housing requirements at the federal, state, and local levels prevent the limiting of Mosaic units only to people who are LGBTQ+.

Sanders called disrespect of trans residents the biggest problem at Mosaic.  “(T)his is something perhaps non-LGBTQ+ older adults are not overall very comfortable with or do not understand very well,” she wrote.

Upon move-in, every resident signs a behavior standards agreement indicating that bullying will not be tolerated. “People who don’t follow the agreement get a lease violation and consequences up to and including eviction,” Szish texted.

For the most part, though, Mosaic residents talked about how much they like their neighbors. The building’s waiting list of 118 persons – more than twice the number of current residents – demonstrates the strong demand for affordable housing to serve this group. That even surpasses the expectations of Presbyterian, the nonprofit group that manages the building.

Jim Pieffer, president and CEO of the network, said it would be “delighted” to consider launching a similar facility. He added, “It’s very difficult to find the right location and put together the type of financing needed to make this successful, but we are open to the possibility.”

In the meantime, Kukucka takes pride – gay pride – in knowing that the marches and rallies have paid off.

“Every rock that was thrown at us is part of why this is now being offered,” she said, “because it takes a lot of courage to be different.”