New York Housing for Artists Gains Vital Tax Credit

A plan to turn an East Harlem elementary school into 90 affordable apartments for artists and their families and space for community arts groups recently received a critical federal low-income housing tax credit worth about $24 million.

The project is a collaboration of Artspace, an organization based in Minneapolis that builds affordable living and work space for artists, and El Barrio’s Operation Fightback, a community development organization in East Harlem. Housing will include studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments, all of which will be below market rate, with rents, at most, between $500 and $1,100 a month, according to Artspace. The building’s public areas, including a large hall on the ground floor and a sunken space in the basement that now holds old boilers, will also be available for rental below market rates to community and arts groups.