With affordable senior living becoming a rarity in D.C., Friendship Terrace in Tenleytown is finding ways to help low-income seniors live in retirement communities affordably.
In February, Friendship Terrace, a medium-sized apartment complex in Ward 3, announced it would open up 125 “deeply affordable” housing units for independent seniors, making the retirement community open to low-income D.C. residents.
In addition, Seabury Resources for Aging, which owns and manages the apartments, declared it would establish a $2 million food trust to support residents in need. One in two seniors in the D.C. area experiences food insecurity daily, according to the Capital Area Food Bank.
Many communities for older residents are expensive, which means it can be hard for low-income seniors to live on their own in accessible apartments, but complexes like Friendship Terrace hope to provide the solution. One Friendship Terrace resident, Sharin Majarowitz, who has been living there for over a year, said she is “well satisfied” at Friendship Terrace, and glad she can live independently in her apartment.
“Seniors deserve to have their needs met. Everybody benefits when their needs are met,” said Matt Frumin, the councilmember for Ward 3, at the open house for the new units on Feb. 13. Frumin has advocated for the importance of creating accessible housing for D.C.’s aging population.
D.C. has a lack of deeply affordable housing, which is housing available to those who make 30 percent or below of an area’s median income. In D.C., that’s around $32,000 for an individual, or $37,000 for a couple, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The area median incomeMI is used by agencies such as the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development to determine who qualifies for a housing voucher or public housing.
At Friendship Terrace, rent for tenants in the most affordable units is subsidized by vouchers through a partnership between the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development and Seabury. Tenants receive Section 8 vouchers specific to the apartment complex, and pay rent proportional to their savings and no more than 30 percent of their income.
“It was phenomenal,” Semira Ligon, the executive director of Friendship Terrace for over 10 years, said. “Residents could not believe the savings they were able to keep in their bank accounts.”
Ligon said the partnership between Seabury and the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development was over four years in the making. She also encouraged other property owners to partner with DHCD to provide affordable housing to their residents.
In 2023, the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home, for example, broke ground on a new affordable housing complex for seniors in Friendship Heights, using both vouchers and money from the District’s Housing Production Trust Fund to ensure units are affordable.
Sheila Foxworth, a 78-year-old resident who has been at Friendship Terrace since 2023, said her experience at the complex has been “up and down.”
“It took a while for me to adjust, but I’m doing good now,” Foxworth said. As a former property manager, she said it took time to acclimate to the way Seabury managed the apartments.
The property has features tailored to senior residents. The complex is equipped with cameras, so staff can alert paramedics if a tenant has a medical emergency. It also has a pantry where residents with severe food insecurity can go to receive essentials for free, according to Mary Toussaint, a services coordinator at Friendship Terrace. On the 5th floor, there is a greenhouse with plants donated from tenants or nearby community members.
Friendship Terrace accepts seniors as young as 62 and as old as 103, with some exceptions for younger individuals who have disabilities. The housing application includes an online application and paperwork, which can be emailed, faxed or delivered in person to the property.
Moving forward, Ligon hopes other property managers, both for seniors and for the general public, will take something away from Friendship Terrace’s approach to interacting with tenants.
“Advocate for your residents,” Ligon said. “Healthy and happy residents equal a healthy and happy property.”
Editor's Note: This article previously appeared in Street Sense’s March 12, 2025 print edition.
This article was edited by Abigail Hatting, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Olivia Citarella.
