SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549



                             -----------------------



                                    FORM 8-K



                                 CURRENT REPORT
                     PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
                         SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934



         Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): June 11, 2001



                         SENIOR HOUSING PROPERTIES TRUST
               (Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)




          Maryland                   001-15319                04-3445278
(State or other jurisdiction        (Commission            (I.R.S. employer
     of incorporation)              file number)        identification number)




                 400 Centre Street, Newton, Massachusetts 02458
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)




         Registrant's telephone number, including area code:617-796-8350





Item 5.  Other Events

         Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) announced yesterday that it
intends to make a public offering of $50 million of trust preferred  securities.
The trust  preferred  securities  will have a liquidation  preference of $25 per
share.  The  distribution  rate  will be set at the time of the  pricing  of the
offering, which is expected to occur later this month.

         SNH  will  use  the  proceeds  of the  offering  to  repay  outstanding
borrowings on SNH's revolving credit facility.

         An application  will be made to list the trust preferred  securities on
the New York Stock Exchange.

         The joint  book-running  managers  for the offering are UBS Warburg and
Salomon Smith  Barney.  Co-managers  of this  offering are A.G.  Edwards & Sons,
Inc., First Union Securities,  Inc., Prudential Securities,  Credit Suisse First
Boston and Tucker Anthony Sutro Capital Markets.

         This  communication  shall  not  constitute  an  offer  to  sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these  securities
in any state in which the offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to
registration or qualification under the securities laws of that state. Copies of
the  preliminary  Prospectus  Supplement may be obtained from the offices of UBS
Warburg  LLC,  299 Park  Avenue,  New York,  New York  10171,  or the offices of
Salomon Smith Barney Inc.,  388 Greenwich  Street,  New York,  New York 10013 or
from the offices of any of the co-manager underwriters identified above.

         THIS PRESS  RELEASE  CONTAINS  FORWARD  LOOKING  STATEMENTS  WITHIN THE
MEANING OF THE PRIVATE  SECURITIES  REFORM ACT OF 1995.  THESE  FORWARD  LOOKING
STATEMENTS ARE BASED UPON SNH'S PRESENT  EXPECTATIONS,  BUT THESE STATEMENTS AND
THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE STATEMENTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED.  FOR EXAMPLE,  ALTHOUGH
THIS  PRESS  RELEASE  REFERS  TO THE  SALE OF $50  MILLION  OF  TRUST  PREFERRED
SECURITIES,  SNH MAY SELL  MORE OR LESS  THAN  $50  MILLION  OF TRUST  PREFERRED
SECURITIES.  INVESTORS  SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE  RELIANCE  UPON  FORWARD  LOOKING
STATEMENTS.







                                   SIGNATURES

         Pursuant to the  requirements  of the Securities  Exchange Act of 1934,
the  registrant  has duly  caused  this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

                              SENIOR HOUSING PROPERTIES TRUST


                              By:  /s/ David J. Hegarty
                                    Name:  David J. Hegarty
                                    Title: President, Chief Operating Officer
                                    and Chief Financial Officer



Date:  June 12, 2001