A “pioneering” housing project in Berlin — Germany’s capital city — takes the form of a 72-unit apartment complex with rent starting at €6.90 per square meter, or just shy of $7 per 10 square feet.
The kicker? It’s only for lesbians and bisexual women.
It’s a project years in the making, created by LGBTQ+ nonprofit Rad und Tat and state-owned housing association Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Berlin-Mitte, designed to provide affordable housing to aging lesbian and bisexual women.
“As a pioneering project across Europe, the planned lesbian housing project and queer cultural center stands for lesbian and queer visibility and gender equality,” Jutta Brambach, the managing director of RuT, said in a statement.
“With mobile cultural events, we are already demonstrating how beneficial diversity is for society.”
Members of RuT advocate for inclusive housing in 2022. Courtesy of Rad und Tat
Apartments will vary between one and four bedrooms, with eight units reserved for women who need more home care support, including five wheelchair-accessible units.
Only 41 of the apartments will be subsidized with a base rent of €6.90 per square meter. Other open spots will be available to rent on a sliding scale based on income, at either €11 or €15.45 per square meter. (That’s about $12.50 per 10 square feet or $17.60 per 10 square feet, respectively.)
But aside from affordability, the complex will also offer community events, counseling support, and a headquarters for RuT.
“Here, lesbians and queer women will be able to live fulfilling lives and enjoy their later years in a discrimination-free and neighborly environment,” a press release from the state housing organization, WBM, described.
The project was approved and began construction in 2023, and applications for housing opened in February 2026 — and have since been completely filled up.
RuT members at the groundbreaking ceremony for the apartments. @rutwohnen/Instagram
The RuT apartments are currently projected to open in August 2026. In the meantime, the organization has shared updates like room tours and crowdfunding opportunities.
“With your support you will help us to set up Berlin’s first lesbian shared apartment for people with disabilities and to create an open and inclusive socio-cultural center with a café and event spaces,” a GoFundMe description translated from German to English reads.
“So that queer life in old age remains visible, supportive, and communal.”
RuT has received clear support from local officials.
“The cooperation between WBM and RuT impressively demonstrates the successful collaboration between public and nonprofit institutions in realizing innovative and forward-looking housing concepts,” Ephraim Gothe, a district councilor for urban development and facility management, said in a statement.
“We are proud to be able to support this project as a district and thus make a further contribution to an inclusive and livable city.”
RuT leaders had the idea for the housing project about 10 years ago when they realized aging lesbian and bisexual women had fewer resources available than their gay male counterparts. Now, their dream is finally becoming a reality.
A mockup of the future apartment complex. Courtesy of Galandi Schirmer Architects & Engineers
“The fear of being isolated in old age, of having to live in a senior citizens’ home where lesbian life stories have no place, of having no chance to meet lesbian friends, let alone forge new friendships with lesbians, has motivated many visitors and users of RuT to consider possibilities for living together in a supportive community,” a web page for the organization reads.
“The project’s idea is to create an inclusive space where women who love women can live in a supportive community and remain as self-determined and independent as possible until the end of their lives.”
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Featured Image: Courtesy of Rad und Tat
