Do these Queens arts districts
rank among most affordable?
BY MARK HALLUM
A real estate organization
is calling into question the
affordability of cultural districts
after they found that residents of
arts districts pay 176 percent more
on average than people who live in
other parts of their city — making
arts districts largely unaffordable
for artists themselves.
But the rent-to-income ratio for
creative types on a budget is relatively
sweeter in two sections of Queens,
ranking among the top districts in the
nation for affordability in relation to
the income of the average artist, Yardi
Matrix claimed in its sister publication
RentCafe.
The Kaufman Arts District in
Astoria and Downtown Jamaica will
both cost an artist making $81,510
per year less than 30 percent of their
income with the former falling into
place at 29 percent and the latter taking
about 27 percent of an artist’s income.
The data compiled from U.S.
Department of Labor statistics
pertains to those living in apartment
complexes with more than 50 units
within a half-mile radius of the center
of an art district.
But the wider scope of the study
found that if an artist is living in a
cultural district, they may be paying
an average of around $382 more
on a monthly basis than any other
part of the city where they could be
living, a 176 percent increase above
normal rates.
Yardi Matrix claims that art
districts have become so popular over
the years that they in fact have grown
too expensive for artists themselves,
with Houston’s Museum District
making up one of the most prominent
examples of this at 176 percent of the
citywide average and Seattle’s Capitol
Hill arts district costing the least
amount at only a 2 percent rent-toincome
ratio.
According to the Department of
Housing and Urban Development,
a household that qualifies at “rentburdened”
is one which sends over
30 percent of income to the landlord,
making most cultural districts no
country for starving artists.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by
e-mail at mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
or by phone at (718) 260–4564.
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