Housing for artists: live/work buildings and how to apply

To get affordable housing for artists, first check that your household's income is under the building's income limit, the most a household can earn and still qualify. Then find out how the building handles artists. Some offer apartments to artists first, after an interview or a look at your work, and some Boston buildings require the city's artist certificate.

What is affordable artist housing?

Affordable artist housing is apartments with lower rents for households under an income limit, where artists get the apartments first. Many are live/work apartments, which have extra space you can use as a studio. Artspace, a nonprofit that builds and runs artist housing, says each of its live/work homes has 100 to 150 square feet of extra space you can use as a studio. Buildings use one of two rules:

• Artist preference. Anyone who qualifies on income can apply, but artists are offered apartments first. Artspace and some tax-credit buildings, private buildings that get a federal tax break for keeping rents low, work this way.
• Artist certificate. You must show a city's proof that you are an artist before you can rent. Several Boston buildings require the city's artist certificate.

Do income limits still apply to artist housing?

Yes. Artist housing is income-restricted housing first, so your household must earn under the building's limit before your art counts. Artspace says its homes are for households at or under 80% of the area median income, the middle income for the city or county. Artspace NKB Lofts in Minneapolis, for example, lists rents from $770 to $2,400 a month, depending on the apartment's size and the income it is set for.

A tax-credit building usually sets its apartments at 50% or 60% of the area median income. Under an average-income option in federal tax law, each apartment can instead have its own limit from 20% to 80%. The building's average must then stay at 60% or less. The same law lets these buildings put people "involved in artistic or literary activities" first. To see how those limits work, read how tax credit apartments work.

How does an artist preference work?

An artist preference means artists are offered apartments before other applicants who qualify on income. At Artspace, the process has two steps:

1. Pre-qualify on income and the building's other rules. Only people who pass go on to the interview.
2. Meet the Artist Interview Committee. Three to five people, including someone from the owner, interview you and your family and score your answers from 1 to 5. An average of 3 or more earns the artist preference, and those households are offered apartments first. Households below 3 go on a separate list that is offered apartments after them.

The committee doesn't judge your work. It looks at how much you take part in and are committed to your art form, and you don't need to earn your income from art. Artspace counts a wide range of people as artists, from painters, writers, musicians and filmmakers to craftspeople, tattoo artists, hairdressers and chefs who teach or share their craft. Work that is very noisy or uses hazardous materials usually isn't allowed in the apartment.

Other buildings use their own tests. Take Hollywood Arts Collective, a 152-apartment tax-credit building in Los Angeles listed on the city's Access Housing LA site. It counts you as an artist in one of two ways: income from the arts, or a professional commitment to an artistic practice. It fills apartments with artists first and offers any left over to other people who qualify.

How does Boston's artist certificate work?

Boston's Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture gives an Artist Housing Certification, a letter that lets you apply for artist live/work spaces that require it. You still have to meet the building's income and asset limits, the most your savings and property can be worth. Not every artist space in Boston requires the certificate.

If the city turns you down, you can apply again. To hear about openings, the city asks artists to sign up for its arts newsletter and for Metrolist, Boston's housing listings.

Does New York City have an artist preference?

New York City's housing lotteries, random drawings for apartments, have no citywide artist preference. The city housing department's Marketing Handbook, revised in April 2026, lists set-asides for people with disabilities and preferences for neighborhood residents, city employees and city residents. A building's own funding agreement can add other rules.

One artist building in the city is El Barrio's Artspace PS109 in East Harlem, a former school with 89 live/work apartments that the city housing department helped pay for. Artspace runs it with its usual artist interview, so ask its leasing office for the application and the proof of your art it wants. To apply for city lotteries in general, learn how the NYC housing lottery works.

Where can you find artist buildings?

• Artspace lists every building it runs on its places page, by state. Check each building's page for whether it is taking applications.
• Chicago: Artspace runs Switching Station Artist Lofts in Garfield Park, with 24 live/work apartments, and Pullman Artspace Lofts.
• Minneapolis: Artspace NKB Lofts takes applications through its management company, and its page says to apply even if you aren't sure you qualify.
• San Francisco Bay Area: Artist Space Trust offers lower-cost homes and live/work spaces to Bay Area artists; check its site for homes taking applications.

How do you apply for artist housing?

1. Check your income against the building's limit. Our qualify check shows which listings fit your household's size and income.
2. Gather proof of your practice: a resume, dated work samples, a reference letter and any proof of income from your art.
3. Get the city certificate if the building asks for one, and plan around its review deadlines.
4. Apply on the building's own page or at its leasing office, before its deadline.
5. Apply to more than one building. Some artist buildings pick by lottery and others keep a waitlist, a line you join for the next free apartment.

If no artist building fits, other lower-rent housing works the same way without the arts rule. See what you can apply for now in Massachusetts and Los Angeles, or in every state.