South Florida is a hub for artists. But like many other working professionals in the region, artists often find they are priced out of affordable housing.
Some artists also face the additional cost of having to pay rent for separate commercial studios where they create.
The City of Lake Worth is trying to respond to both of those needs in a new home buying program designed specifically for low to moderate income artists to live and work in the same space.
Neighborhood Renaissance, an economic development nonprofit that also focuses on housing equity, helped develop the Art Lofts of West Village. The three-story townhomes offer a commercial storefront on the first floor where artists can make and sell their work and living areas on the top two floors.
“The cost for the artist to purchase the home is way below the cost of what it cost us to develop the home,” said Terri Murray, executive director for Neighborhood Renaissance.
She says their goal wasn’t to make a profit.
The median home cost in Palm Beach County is $340,000, far out of reach for many residents who make less than $75,000 a year.
Neighborhood Renaissance teamed up with Lake Worth’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to build the eight townhomes on land that was donated by the city. The townhomes were completed last year and Palm Beach County pledged to help homeowners with substantial down payment assistance and subsidies to make it affordable.
Murray says the combination of multiple partnerships across private and government sectors is the type of commitment that will be needed to address the affordability crisis in South Florida while providing an avenue for lower to moderate income people to build wealth and stability.
But Murray admits, it’s hard to get developers on board.
“The reality is for it to be affordable it's going to be someone who's mission driven because the profit margin is not there,” she said.
Christina Pritchard had been house hunting for a few months and was skeptical that she would find a home in a price range she could afford.
Pritchard, a writer who also works at a hurricane impact window store, had a budget of $125,000.
“Some places that used to be you could buy them for $70,000 are now two or three hundred thousand. I mean it's a lot of money,” she said. “I don't know how people afford it. They have homes where they pay $2,000, $3,000 on a mortgage.”
Pritchard’s realtor Melanie Reyes was riding around Lake Worth when she came across signs for the new townhomes and looked up the prices online.
“I honestly thought it was a typo,” said Reyes, “ It was $120,000 and I thought, ‘Oh my word.’”
The market value of the townhome is actually $245,000, but after the subsidies and downpayment assistance built into the project, Pritchard’s mortgage would be based on the $120,000 price tag.
Pritchard said there was no way she could have afforded the townhome if it was listed at market rate. She expects her mortgage will be about $1,100.
Reyes points out that's about how much it costs to rent a one bedroom apartment in Palm Beach County.
Joan Oliva, executive director of Lake Worth’s community redevelopment agency, said the homes also have deed restrictions for the first 15 years to make sure other artists can benefit if a homeowner decides to sell the property.
“If they are sold within that timeframe they have to be sold to another artist. And they have to be within a certain income range, low to moderate, in order for the new buyer to purchase it,” she said. “We have a lot of creatives here and I think this shows that we have a certain appreciation for that.”
