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New York City Hasn’t Built Artists Housing in a Decade. Should It?
Excerpts from an article by Samantha Maldonado
THE CITY
Jan 29 2026

Read entire article HERE

“…And whether the government should prioritize developing affordable housing with set-asides for artists in a city with a persistent housing crisis — and hefty competition for even moderately affordable housing — remains a point of tension.

“As a guiding principle, when you have a limited resource, you’d start with the people who are most in need,” said David Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. He pointed out that more than 100,000 people are in city shelters, thousands of people are unsheltered on the street and a quarter of a million people live doubled and tripled up in other family’s homes.

“That indicates that we need to start with the people who don’t have homes, whether they’re artists or work in the food service industry or as home health aides, whatever their occupation,” Giffen said. “Who is most in need of that resource?”

Ripple Effects

Still, there is much interest for housing specifically for artists, and those who live in it and run it underscore the myriad benefits.

“The most unique challenge artists face in getting housing is the nature of their income, which is fluctuating and episodic and may change from year to year or week to week,” said Daniel Arnow, executive director of the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation. “We see artist housing and an artist preference policy as a safeguard against displacement.”

Westbeth Artists Housing in the West Village, which was created in 1970 and comprises 384 affordable apartments, draws “huge” demand from interested tenants, according to WestBeth’s executive director Peter Madden.

Westbeth opened its waitlist in 2019, and will start pulling from it later this year as some of the 40 apartments undergoing renovations become available.

“So many people are artists, and they’ve lived here together for such a long time that there’s really a pretty remarkable community at Westbeth, in the sense that the tenants here end up working together, creating art together,” he said. “We have a lot of residents who are in their 80s and 90s, who really rely on each other and the community they built to really maintain their quality of life.”

Like PS109, Westbeth boasts gallery and community space and programs for the public, which cultivates artistic engagement beyond the residents themselves, Madden said. One challenge: the availability of studio space so artists have a place to work.

One artist-friendly solution to that problem came as part of the rezoning of Gowanus, Brooklyn, which allowed for housing to be built in a previously industrial neighborhood. Community groups negotiated an agreement for developers to build over 100 affordable art studios. Artists could apply to a lottery to secure a space.

Johnny Thornton, executive director of Arts Gowanus, touted that win as one that helped many artists overcome a key barrier to continuing to make art in New York City — but would’ve liked to go further.

“Though we’re extremely proud of our work advocating for artists’ workspaces, we would have loved to be able to secure affordable housing for artists as well,” Thornton said. “Allowing artists to live in the neighborhoods where they work creates an even more tight-knit, flourishing community.””

Editor’s note: Due to safety concerns, the name of one of the subjects of this story has been removed after publication.