Commissioner Vij addresses affordability crisis and affordable workspace
Vij discusses AREA program's 165 units, 50,000 square feet at Brooklyn Army Terminal, and cultural space in developments like Brownsville Arts Center and People's Theater Project, but says affordability remains the most pressing challenge.
The fourth objective of the action plan was to address the city's affordability crisis for the cultural sector.
The Affordable Real Estate for Artists, or AREA, program was one strategy named here.
The program, supported with $10 million in capital funds, supported the creation of 165 units of affordable workspace in city-funded capital projects before it was later sunset.
We were also able to secure Art Bill 50,000 square feet in the Brooklyn Army Terminal, giving more than 100 working artists access to long-term affordable workspace.
Another strategy was to include cultural organizations and city-led development projects to provide affordable long-term space,
from the Brownsville Arts Center and Apartments to the People's Theater Project in Inwood to Indie Space's new facility on Manhattan's West Side to Casa Belongo in El Barrio.
This is an
an area that has produced exciting new opportunities for culture to be integrated into the fabric of our city in sustainable, affordable spaces.
However, the affordability crisis remains the most pressing and layered challenge facing the field today, and it is my explicit mandate to use all levers available to DCLA to address this.