Read the full article by Angie Eng at Sacramento News & Review
Artists are probably the most resourceful people when it comes to housing. To avoid high rents, they squat in abandoned buildings, live in warehouses, couch surf, house sit, sublet or sublet a sublet.
Art hubs like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City — with their top dollar real estate values — have responded with rent control and stabilization laws, recognizing the pivotal role of cultural creators in a city’s economy. In 1982, New York artists rallied behind the Loft Law, a landmark measure permitting creatives to inhabit converted commercial spaces as live/work studios. In the 1990s, I got lucky and found such a loft on the Bowery where I paid $1,100 per month (cash only/no lease) for 2,000 square feet plus roof access; a huge perk in New York City.
It has long since been torn down and replaced by luxury condos.
The nationwide disappearance of affordable housing stands as a grim reality; few could have predicted that rental rates in California’s capital might soar to nearly $5 per square foot. In this inflated real estate market, where will artists go?