Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving as the eighth Mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented Ward 4 as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female Mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
D.C. Council member proposes LGBTQ senior housing in Ward 2
D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) is calling on Mayor Muriel Bowser to include $22.9 million in the city’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget to establish what Pinto calls the city’s “first affordable housing for LGBTQQIA+ seniors in Ward 2.” In a Feb.
27 letter to Bowser proposing specific amounts of city funding on a wide range of issues, including the Council’s recently passed crime bill, Pinto told Bowser the need for affordable housing for LGBTQ seniors is pressing. “Having faced decades of workplace and healthcare discrimination and been barred for most of their lives from marrying or having children, our LGBTQQIA+ seniors are more likely to face financial and health challenges and need housing and social supports as they age,” Pinto states in her letter. “As the Council-funded task force meets to identify a site for a Ward 2 Senior Center, we should endeavor to locate a building that serves a dual purpose: a Ward 2 Senior Center as well as LGBTQQIA+ senior housing,” Pinto states.
DHCD [D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development] should leverage federal Community Development Block Grants funding to produce at least 80 affordable units for low-and-moderate-income seniors and provide meals and other supportive services,” she wrote.
Pinto was referring to legislation passed by the D.C. Council and signed by the mayor creating a Wards 2 and 3 Senior Wellness Center Feasibility and Planning Task Force, which is assigned to “advise and guide” the mayor, the Council, and other city government agencies in the development of senior wellness centers in Wards 2 and 3.
