A specialist housing association that supports older LGBTQ+ people has appointed two new board members and a chair following the departure of its two founders.
Terry Stacy will replace founders James Greenshields and Geoff Pine as chair of Tonic Housing, which was set up in 2014 to combat loneliness and isolation in the older LGBTQ+ community.
Social housing tenant Stacy is head of the Liberal Democrat office at the Local Government Association (LGA).
He is also vice-chair of the Clarion board and chair of AKT, a national LGBTQ+ youth homeless charity.
Joining as a board member is Assiah Awaleh, head of housing at Look Ahead Care and Support, a specialist housing association which focuses on care, support, and housing services.
Michelle Davies, service design and delivery director at Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion, has also been appointed to the board.
Commenting on these organisational changes, Tonic Housing said: “We’re incredibly grateful to James and Geoff for their dedication and passion, and we are excited for the additional capacity this will bring to the organisation.”
In February, Tonic announced that it was opening the UK’s first LGBTQ+ retirement community after securing a £5.7m loan from the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
The mayor’s community housing loan allowed Tonic to purchase 19 homes in Bankhouse, an assisted living scheme in Lambeth, south London developed by One Housing.
Image: Terry Stacy. Credit: Tonic Housing
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