Housing Artists Affordably

Affordable housing is a big task with populations of people who are unable to work or work for too low of income to pay for living expenses without additional assistance in and of itself. Add in the complexity of artists as a population that don't neatly fit into any box, have needs that are not satisfied with standard market offerings, have varying incomes, are undervalued for their societal contributions, and like to be located near other artists/artistic people, and you have pretty much eliminated them as a class to serve.

Numerous challenges are present in housing artists and artistic types. Here's a short list:

• Need and desire spaces large enough (in volume as well as floor space) for their mediums of choice
• Are often able to use spaces that are too small or rough for traditional businesses which means they are usually needing improvements and/or are occupied in substandard conditions as a compromise
• They are often on short term leases or non-conventional (little legal ground) leases that subject them to the whim or greed of the business owners waiting for the market to bring the buyer with the most cash
• Have little access to traditional capital to purchase and/or improve a structure that would suit their needs due to the highly varying income situation most experience and difficulty in determining future ability to pay
• Many suitable structures are in neighborhoods that are transitional, undesirable, or deserted areas where the buildings are nearly worthless but the land is potentially desirable and too expensive, making the improvements to bring a building to code and modern standards may not pencil out
• Building new structures that support artists needs in locations that are desirable is often cost prohibitive, requires funding sources that are non-traditional and thus very limited and usually competitive, and have to comply often with commercial codes and zoning, which while producing a higher quality product sometimes also has higher costs
• There's significant competition from the populations of disabled, legal citizens who can't work, the working poor and immigrants that exceed the availability of available housing without having complicated financial situations, making artists part of the undesirables
• When populations of people do not have the resources and/or opportunity to own their spaces, they do not get to participate in the increased desirability and thus value increase they helped spur, and further make them vulnerable to the market forces they cannot control that can price them out of the area they helped make desirable

Solutions:

• One of the primary solutions that other ethnic groups demonstrate work but the artists communities have not put into practice is for the successful artists to be the venture capital/angel investors for other artists; community supported financing
• Design financial systems that support artists and creative types in owning their spaces, within the means they have: buying shares in their space based on pre-agreed terms, owner financing, sweat equity, barter, etc
• Live/work housing that creates fine grain development and small investment opportunities for local investment
• Design artist housing, studio and gallery spaces as part of the neighborhood improvement process, ensuring the existing residents benefit when they also contribute to the desirability and attraction of the area
• Accept that providing space for artists is part of the evolution of an area and most that are part of the improvement are not going to stay for the long term
• Look outside the box for solutions to creating studio space that can be lived in at modern standards
• Recognize that artists have value that is beyond the direct financial benefits and thus should be supported with tax dollars, perhaps on a dollar for dollar match up to poverty line and then a sloping reduction to the AMI; this could also be used for other working poor
• Choose areas that are desirable for artists and are desired to be improved, and plan for the financial support of artists locating to the area, and then for the distribution of gains that result from the increased desirability and thus value of the area they helped improve and occupy
• Use property tax overlays, modified versions of homestead provisions and other tax shifts to ensure that as property values go up, the occupants and those who helped improve the area don't get priced out of the area due to taxes and benefit from landlords holding rents stable and/or selling property on contract
• Accept that gentrification is part of the contract in the investment that communities are making (tax breaks, grants and loans) in exchange for the area becoming desirable to outside developers and the next generation that desires to live in the cool neighborhoods
• Design multi-family housing with studio apartments that artists can live in at 25% of full-time minimum wage income regardless of the hours they spend on the job so that if they are able to earn $50/hour for 2-days of work but they don't work for 2 weeks, they can still qualify and afford to live there, and have time to work on their art
• Invest in local developers who will develop small infill multifamily near desired studio/gallery spaces, with the idea that the artists can pay a premium over affordable rates to purchase their units on contract
• Recognize that areas that artists want to be in are not always the best location for a permanent artists district; a goal should be for the improvement of the area with the improvers getting a portion of the financial gains so they can relocate and support the next area and generation of artists
• Many areas that area desirable and appropriate for artists are in neighborhoods of lower socio-economic and ethnic groups; artists are often present in those groups already and ready to blossom; integrate the artist and ethnic communities to create momentum that builds cooperation and support rather than competition and disdain
• Plan now for the relocation of Roosevelt Row Artists district, followed by the Grant Ave District to other areas nearby that can support and benefit from artists; setup policies so that the artists to the new areas will benefit from getting in on the ground floor when they leave their existing space while those who benefit from their early investment and thus benefit financially from the improvements are encouraged to invest in the new areas and support the next generation of artists to be owners of their spaces

These are just some ideas that could be considered. They obviously need much more fleshing out to make a reality though there's enough creative energy in the community that would benefit to make some of this work. Please feel free to add your own thoughts, ideas and suggestions to solve this growing need.