As housing costs soar, artists struggle pre-COVID-19 to live in Los Angeles
When Allison Agsten directed the Main Museum, a now closed contemporary art space in downtown L.A., she annually interviewed 50 artists to gain a sense of their needs and concerns.
The first year, their main concern was the homeless in the area around the museum. By the third year, some artists told her they were experiencing — or were on the verge of — homelessness.
“Artists told me that they were unable to afford both an apartment and a studio, so they might be living in a studio that lacked plumbing or heating,” Agsten said. “[Some] were living on Skid Row and still trying to find a way to pursue their practices, as well as feed themselves and find shelter for the night.”
Agsten is now a fellow at Arts for LA where she prepared a report on Los Angeles’ affordability for artists: “(Re)inventing the Dream: Policies and Practices for Keeping Artists in Los Angeles.” She surveyed 763 artists and found that nearly 90 percent believe that the lack of affordability of housing and workspace in the county is a “serious concern.” Over half reported annual incomes of $50,000 or less.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development says anyone whose rent is more than 30 percent of their income is “cost burdened.” The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles is $1,369 a month or $16,428 per year. If an artist that earns $50,000 a year and pays the median rent, they devote 33 percent of their income to rent. Rent is much higher in other areas of town. In downtown, which neighbors the Arts District, the average rent per month is $2,686.
“Many of the artists that responded to my survey said that even though they could barely afford it here,” Agsten said, “They felt that they would really lose out if they couldn’t capitalize on that at this moment in their careers.”
The annual creative economy output of the Los Angeles region, which includes the fine arts, fashion and film and more, is valued at $207.8 billion, according to the Otis Report on the Creative Economy.
Still, despite being core to the Angeleno economy, the pillars of artists’ lives here can be unstable. When the Great Recession hit, in 2008 arts funding was first on the chopping block, according to Adam Fowler, director of research at Beacon Economics, which prepared the report.
Now, after a lengthy period of economic growth, city and nonprofit organizations are on far better financial footing, but they can’t keep up with the city’s booming real estate market.
Though housing was not directly touched on in the report, Fowler acknowledges the challenges that Los Angeles’ housing crisis presents for the region’s artists of tomorrow.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “If anything challenges our future economic growth, our lack of housing supply is a very real constraint going forward.”
‘The City Loses Artists at its Peril’
Last November, a group gathered in the art studio-apartment of Sylvia Tidwell, president of the Santa Fe Colony’s tenants association. Among the group were members of a nearby neighborhood council, representatives from the mayor’s office and a lawyer. All were present for a tour of the Santa Fe Art Colony. Just beyond downtown Los Angeles, the Colony is on the outskirts of Vernon, a 5.2-square-mile industrial city.
Situated amid drab warehouses, the cluster of brick units is home to 72 artists, including Tidwell. Paintings decorated her walls, but the visitors marveled at the innovative bike rack high on the warehouse-like ceiling. It is connected to a lever that can wind the bicycle down toward the floor. The live-work spaces didn’t come with much except for a water heater. All the cabinets, furniture and hanging pot rack are Tidwell’s own contributions.
To start the tour, the group walked to a nearby building that still has its original freight elevator. The inside looked like a multi-floor prison complex, with tall white walls and a cement floor. All that changed when the group entered Eva Malhotra’s unit. Colorful carvings littered her space.
Malhotra is an artist — and a lawyer. She tells the visitors about various pieces, such as her Greek mythology-inspired works and El paso de Norte series. She couldn’t imagine her life without art.
“It’s not a hobby,” Malhotra said. “It’s a necessity.”
But her presence, like that of many of the other artists nearby, could disappear.
Since 1986, the Colony has been Los Angeles’ only rent-restricted artist-in-residence community. It’s a space that was made to be affordable specifically for artists. The contract keeping the colony rent-controlled expired, and Fifteen Group purchased the buildings in June 2018. On Nov. 1, 2019 rents were set to increase an average of 130 percent.
Tidwell led the tour in hopes of rallying community support for the Colony.
“The city loses artists at its peril,” she said.
To protect the dozens of artists, the tenants association made a bid to buy the Colony. Fifteen Group did not respond.
Carving Out Spaces
Art Share, in L.A.’s Arts District, is another live-work space for artists. It’s the only 100 percent affordable housing building in the area. Wayne Hoggatt, who works in a variety of mediums from music to film, is an Art Share resident. Hoggatt is also a lifelong Angeleno. He used to live in homes in South Central for $650 a month.
“The cost of living is outrageous,” he said. “The rent just became out of reach.” Art Share remains the best option for artists looking to live near the Arts District. Rates vary by individual income, but stay under $1,000 a month.
Hoggatt remembered a more affordable Arts District downtown. About five years ago, he said it was far cheaper and that there were fewer homeless people. In search of creative stimulation, Hoggatt became involved with Art Share. With all the music and art that goes on, it’s “very exciting to me,” he said.
Over the course of his career, Hoggatt has traveled the world, but he finds solace in Los Angeles. His family is here, as is the entertainment world he works in. More importantly, he noted “artists support artists.”
In Hollywood, another hub of L.A..’s artistic activity, the Hollywood Arts Collective is currently under construction. Some units are intended for affordable housing for artists, while others will be at market rate. The initiative began under Olga Garay-English, former executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. She said it was a response to the Great Recession, when the city was $500 million in debt and slashing budgets across all departments.
“I was trying to figure out what were some ways that we could support the arts community,” Garay-English, who is now the executive director of the John Anson Ford Theatres, explained.
More than a decade later, The Actors Fund, a nonprofit that supports performers, and Thomas Safran & Associates, a property management company, control the Hollywood Arts Collective development. Neither have announced specific rates for units.
“You have to be vigilant about keeping these opportunities for affordable housing in the mix,” said Garay-English, “otherwise people will just move further and further and further out of the urban center just to find a space where they can live and where they can create.”
High hopes for a costly city
Since almost getting kicked out of her home, Tidwell has found support from the city. The Los Angeles’ Emergency Renters Relief program provided temporary monetary assistance for renters who faced eviction because they can’t pay large rent increases.
Through the program, Tidwell and several other tenants were able to pay their rent for November 2019. But because the Santa Fe Colony tenants paid only a portion of the rent (and the city would cover the rest in another check), Fifteen Group said they would not accept the partial payment. It required the city to turn in their checks at the same time as Tidwell and the other tenants. They were under a ticking clock, but the city took impressively quick action and the colony residents turned their payment in on time.
Tidwell, as the tenants association president, is heading the fight against Fifteen Group. She has lived at the colony for just over 20 years and primarily paints. Her unit is decorated by large, and some small, canvases of “The Stage Series.” The paintings are translations from on-stage events, which she abstracted into energy-parallel colors.
It’s a lot of work to keep the Santa Fe Colony affordable. As Tidwell explained, the fact that the government imposed rent protections when the Colony was first established is a wonderful assertion of artists’ value to Los Angeles.
“We really think this place is worth saving for the future, for the city,” Tidwell said. “It is bigger than us.”
Like in November, 23 Colony tenants were served eviction notices at the beginning of January, despite the new state rent cap law. Later that month, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Colony tenants rallied outside city hall to urge the city council to enforce the new cap rent law.
“As tenants we have followed state law and city ordinances. Landlords must also follow state law and city ordinances,” longtime Colony resident Tom Villa said.
Because Fifteen Group did not respond to their bid to purchase, the tenant’s association sued. A pro bono legal team at Sheppard Mullin filed and served the complaint to Fifteen Group. The Santa Fe Colony is only beginning its legal battle, but saw a glimmer of hope last month. On Feb. 4, the city council affirmed the Santa Fe Art Colony as a historical-cultural monument. It’s a milestone in protecting the cultural backbone of Los Angeles— assurance that the people living the buildings, the ones bringing vibrance to our city, are cared for.